Studies have shown that trans fats can increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease. While some countries are now considering a complete ban, moves are being made to make listing trans fat concentration on food labels mandatory in Ireland. And last week, one Irish MEP was bringing the campaign to Europe. Hélène Hofmanreports.
Last December New York City's board of health voted to phase out harmful trans fats in food by July, and Los Angeles is now considering following suit. In Denmark all foods containing more than 2 per cent trans fats have been banned since 2003. There is no legislation on the issue in Ireland, and the Department of Health has expressed concern that the Irish population may be unknowingly consuming excessive amounts of trans fats.
The Department has recently made a submission to the EU with the Irish Food Safety Authority supporting a move to make listing trans fat content on food labels mandatory. The Irish Heart Foundation is working on a similar proposal with the European Heart Network.
Last week, Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins was continuing a campaign in Strasbourg, seeking signatures from fellow MEPs, as part of a process to get trans fats labelled on food. He wants the 27 member states to adopt the policy and will continue the campaign next month.
He has until April to get the signatures of half, or 393, of the MEPs so that the motion can be put before the Parliament, according to his spokeswoman, and then the Parliament will be obliged to put it before the Council of Ministers and the Commission.
Trans unsaturated fatty acids, TUFAs or trans fats, are found in vegetable shortenings, biscuits, margarine spreads and some fried foods. They are produced when liquid vegetable oils are mixed with hydrogen and heated in a process called partial hydrogenation and are used to prolong shelf life and improve the flavour stability.
Studies have shown trans fats can increase the risk of developing coronary heart disease. Like saturated fats, trans fats raise the bad low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.
However, trans fats also reduce the levels of good high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which help prevent arteries from clogging. According to a report from Harvard University, this makes trans fats almost twice as dangerous as saturated fats.
Trans fats also occur naturally, but in smaller quantities, in meat and dairy products, when the food naturally ferments in the digestive tracts of cows. However, according to Denis Cronin from UCD's Department of Food Science, it is the
commercially produced
trans fats that are harmful.
"Trans fats are created when vegetable oil is converted into solid fat," explains Cronin. "These fats aren't really much good as liquids but when they're made into solids using a process called hydrogenation they can be more useful. But they are also more harmful."
Cronin believes that we are consuming less trans fats now than a few years ago. However, until more detailed food labelling is introduced, monitoring your intake can be difficult.
"The industry is reacting to public pressure," says Cronin. "The technology in the area is improving and there are ways to reduce the levels of trans fats in food. There are other vegetable fats that can be used instead, or coconut oil. There are also ways to modify the hydrogenation process to reduce the amount of trans fat," he says.
According to a study completed in 1996, the average Irish person consumes 5.4g of trans fats of day. However, some volunteers consumed as much as 26g a day. The biggest source of trans fats was margarine spreads. Milk and meat were also a significant contributor for men, while women consumed significantly larger amounts through confectionary.
"The problem is people just don't know how much they're consuming," says Mary Flynn, dietitian and public health nutritionist with the Food Safety Authority, who worked on the study.
"Since the story has been out there, trans fat consumption has dropped slightly. The thing that should be made clear is that the industry is not out to cause harm. But people want to cut down and in order to do that, trans fats need to be listed on food packets," she says.
"Trans fats are really in foods that bring nothing but calories and are food that we should be cutting down on anyway. If you put it on the label, you give people consumer choice.
"Nutrition labelling in Ireland is lagging well behind what it should be and that needs to change," says Flynn.
"The consumers out there should know. We should be able to pick up a pack of biscuits or margarine and know the trans fats content. It's unacceptable from a consumer's viewpoint that we don't," she says.
The Irish Heart Foundation has recently revised its nutrition policy to include guidelines on trans fat consumption.
It recommends that a maximum of 2 per cent of daily energy intake be made up of trans fats.
Last June, the American Heart Association revised its guidelines and lowered the recommended amount of trans fats to less than 1 per cent of total daily calories consumed.
"We would advise people to eat as little as possible," says Maureen Mulvihill, health promotion manager with the Irish Heart Foundation.
"You should avoid margarine and shortenings, and limit your intake of cakes and biscuits. The best advice is consistent with the food pyramid. We would encourage people to eat fresh fruit and vegetables," she says.
"There is a very strong link between trans fats and heart disease. The evidence is strong and consistent and certainly it seems they are more harmful than saturated fats," says Mulvihill.
"At the moment it's impossible to know how much you are eating. The key is to get trans fats listed on labels and then we can see how much we're eating and how much we need to cut down," she says.