Trans Fatty What?

At the end of October KFC announced the biggest concession yet in the fast-food industry against hydrogenated fats. KFC have promised to remove trans-fats from their cooking oil and replacing them with “zero grams” oil in all 5,500 U.S. outlets by April 2007. However a deadline has not been set for any of the 711 outlets in the U.K. McDonalds has to date made no commitment to remove trans-fats, however, it has said its European restaurants will begin using cooking oils that cut trans-fat levels to no more than 2%. U.S. outlet Wendy’s has removed trans-fats from it fries and chicken. Despite the good news, all of the major fast-food outlets’ products still contain very high levels of saturated fat, salt and calories that exert strain on the heart and contribute to increased weight-gain.

The American Heart Association recommends the maximum intake of trans-fatty acids is 2-2.5g per day. A sample of fast-food products show that for some people this may be a very difficult target: 1 large portion of McDonalds fries contains 8g of trans-fat; their apple pies contain 4.5g. A large KFC ‘Popcorn Chicken’ has 7g; their ‘Chicken Pot Pie’ contains 14g where their 3-piece ‘Extra Crispy Combo’ meal contains 15g of trans-fats. It has long been known that fast-food outlets are not healthy, but this data confirms that they positively pose a danger to health. But are such outlets the only ‘bad guys’?

The main supplier of foodstuffs is Supermarkets. Supermarkets realise that health is fast becoming an obsession. ‘Alarmist’ bad press strongly affects sales of certain products whilst good press can boost sales. The recent boom in organic and fair-trade products is a good example. Trans-fats have become a major issue, one that supermarkets cannot ignore.

The ‘Big Four’ U.K. retailers, Sainsbury; Tesco; Asda and Marks & Spencer have promised to remove trans-fats from their own products by the end of 2006. Marks & Spencer originally promised that they would be removed by mid-2006, but this date was revised for the New Year. Waitrose has also committed to such a move - having been removing them since 2004 - but as yet they not set a deadline for the complete removal. The Co-op has promised to label trans-fats but is behind in the race to remove them completely.

In July 2003, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that it required mandatory trans-fat labelling of all conventional food and supplements from January 2006. All packaged foods must list trans-fat content on their ‘Nutrition Facts’ labels. However, the British government is yet to impose this on products sold in the UK, despite a group of Oxford Scientists writing in the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2006; 333:214 (29 July)) strongly recommending their introduction. However, the U.K. Food Standards Agency is pressing for labelling on all foods sold in the E.U. So what are trans-fats, why are they so bad and how can we recognise them?

Trans-fats or ‘trans fatty acids’ are formed from the partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils (they are sometimes labelled ‘partially hydrogenated vegetable oil’). The process converts vegetable oils into a semi-solid fat that has no nutritional value. Trans-fats are used for margarines, commercial cooking and manufacturing processes. They are very attractive to the food industry because of their long shelf life, their stability during frying and their semi-solidity. The major sources of trans-fats are deep fried fast foods, baked products, packaged snack food, margarine and crackers.

There is substantive evidence that consumption of trans-fats leads to an increased risk in coronary heart disease, more so than any other ‘macronutrient’. By increasing the amount of low-density lipoprotein (“bad cholesterol”) in the blood, and reducing the amount of high-density lipoprotein (“good cholesterol”), they confer a substantially high risk through low consumption. The BMJ article refers to research that suggests that ‘a 2% increase in the energy intake from trans fatty acids was associated with a 23% increase in the incidence of coronary heart disease’ (p. 2).

More starkly, some scientific data has suggested that trans-fat consumption may increase the risk of sudden death from cardiac causes and some data exists to suggest that it may be linked to diabetes. As ‘bantransfats.com’ note:

One of the reasons that partially hydrogenated oils are used is to increase the product’s shelf life, but they decrease your shelf life. Trans fats cause significant and serious lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol and a significant and serious increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol; make the arteries more rigid; cause major clogging of arteries; cause insulin resistance; cause or contribute to type 2 diabetes; and cause or contribute to other serious health problems.

It is not all bad news however: intake can be controlled by consumer choices. Unfortunately, consumers cannot make informed decisions without knowing what are in certain products. Either a labelling system needs to be in place or there needs to be assurances such as those offered by the leading supermarkets that trans-fats will not make their way into products. This being the case, health conscious consumers will be able to make their decisions based on such knowledge. Brands that have made such commitments are bound to prosper.

If this is not the case the consumer can only guess. In the U.S., where products are labelled, consumers can look for partially hydrogenated oils: fully hydrogenated oils are typically listed as “hydrogenated” and often do not contain trans-fats (although some foods that contain hydrogenated oil may still contain trans-fats). This cannot be done in restaurants however, unless in New York where trans-fats are banned in all restaurants. The best method in the U.K. is a calculated one, although it is by no means conclusive. Typically, trans-fat content may be calculated by the gap between the declared “total fats” and the sum of poly-unsaturated, mono-unsaturated and saturated fats listed (if they are given at all). This method is not always accurate but it remains the only one. The consumer cannot make any kind of informed choice unless products are declared trans-fat free or quantities are declared – the onus is on brands.

It is clear from legislation in Denmark, in place since 2003 limiting the amount of trans-fats in food, that trans-fatty acids can be replaced by unsaturated fats without reducing the quality or availability of the food or by increasing the price. Huge progress has been made in the U.S. into researching alternative to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. There is an expectation that it would cost very little to remove trans-fats from food – a small price to pay to please the increasingly suspicious consumer.

Whilst a push for labelling is a very positive step it remains a less fruitful exercise without continued consumer education. In America products that are labelled “trans-fat free” have in some cases enjoyed higher sales. The fact remains, however, that many of these products still contain high levels of saturated fats which can be considered only a little better: trans-fats are only one danger to the consumer. The move towards their removal is encouraging but what is even more important is awareness on the part of the consumer to make informed choices and eat healthily. The brands that make this process easier will build their own value and are likely to prosper.