Thursday, April 1, 2004

Food makers begin flushing trans fats from snacks

ELIZABETH WEISE/GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

http://www.theolympian.com/home/new...ies/16754.shtml

Eager to gain market share -- and to stave off consumer health concerns -- manufacturers aren't waiting for the federal law requiring them to list heart-dangerous trans fatty acids on food labels to take effect in 2006. Instead they're retooling recipes right and left to remove what many nutritionists say is one of the deadliest forms of fat in the American diet.

Already available are trans fat-free snacks from Frito-Lay such as Cheetos, Tostitos and Doritos. Pepperidge Farm is transitioning to a trans fat-free Goldfish recipe this summer. And coming soon are trans fat-free Oreos, Triscuits and a host of other foods.

Manufacturers will be required to begin listing the amount of trans fat on food labels on Jan. 1, 2006. It's most common in pastries, cakes and doughnuts, margarine, cookies, crackers and fried potatoes.

"Gram for gram, trans fat is probably the worst thing in our food supply. It's extremely conducive to coronary heart disease," says Mike Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. It was CSPI's citizen's complaint that helped push the FDA to change the labeling requirements.

The FDA estimates that three years after the effective date, trans fat labeling will prevent 600 to 1,200 cases of heart disease and 250 to 500 deaths each year. It takes about three years for lower LDL cholesterol to result in lower coronary heart disease risk. [emphasis added - gotbeer]

Trans fatty acids, or trans fats, are created when vegetable oil is hydrogenated. That's a process in which liquid oil is heated in the presence of a catalyst, often a metal such as nickel or platinum, while hydrogen is bubbled through it.

Hydrogenated oil is chemically less like vegetable oil and more like animal fat. It's also more solid and less likely to go rancid, making it perfect for frying and industrial baking needs.

To get away from hydrogenation, manufacturers are switching from soybean oil to oils such as sunflower, safflower and palm.

Now the challenge is to just stop eating so many fatty foods, says nutritionist Marion Nestle, author of "Safe Food."

"Trans fats should have been out of the food supply decades ago, and it's about time they are gone, but (snack foods) are a calorie distractor. The advertising is designed to make people forget about calories."

Is all soybean oil hydrogenated?

No. The oils they are switching to are more stable at room temperatures than unhydrogenated soybean oil.

Ban Trans Fats!

I was poking around at Frito Lay to see if I could find the nutrition information on the new chips they've released, but they haven't updated the site with that information yet. I almost wish I bought a bag when I found it the other day so I could post the ingredients. I don't think their product really is trans fat free. It's nice that they're trying, but it would be even better if they'd be truthful.

I've still got the bag - give me a moment and I will list the ingredients here.

Wow - that was quite a list:

Soy protein blend (Soy protein isolates and concentrates),
Corn,
Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Corn, soybean, Sunflower),
Oat Fiber,
Cheddar Cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes)
Salt,
Whey,
Maltodextrin,
Buttermilk Solids,
Romano Cheese from cow's milk (cultured milk, salt, enzymes)
Monosodium Glutamate,
Whey Protein Concentrate
Tomato Powder,
Onion Powder,
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil,
Corn Starch,
Lactose,
Disodium Phosphate,
Natural and Artificial Flavors,
Garlic Powder,
Dextrose,
Spices,
Lactic Acid,
Sodium Caseinate,
Red and Green Bell Pepper Powder,
Sugar,
Citric Acid,
Artificial Color (including Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1)
Disodium inosinate,
Disodium Guanylate, and
Nonfat Milk Solids.

Nutrition Facts:

Calories - 140
from fat - 70

Total Fat - 8gm
Sat fat - 1.5 gm
Trans fat - 0 gm ????
Cholesterol - 0 mg
Sodium - 240 mg
Total Carb - 9 gm
Fiber - 3 gm
Sugars - 1 gm
Protein - 10 gm

Vitamin A - 0%
Vitamin C - 0%
Calcium - 6%
Iron - 6%

Yes, yes it was, and you so totally rock for posting it!! Many huge thanks, gotbeer.

The corn and the partially hydrogenated whatever (doesn't matter to me what it is, it's still partially hydrogenated) were the two ingredients that made me put it down. I don't think I'll be trying those chips any time soon.

I've been searching around a little and have found that the Eades (Protein Power) claim that 70% of soybean oil used in food products is made a transfat by the way it's processed (IOW, it is a transfat, even if it doesn't say "partially hydrogenated" ). I haven't found any other info, yet, backing up that claim.

AgDM newsletter article, November 2003

New soybean oil eliminates need for hydrogenation and cuts trans fats

by Walter Fehr, Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture, (515) 294-6865 or 294-4779, wfehr~iastate.edu

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/ag...s/FehrNov03.htm

New soybean varieties developed at Iowa State University hold promise for food manufacturers scrambling to remove unhealthy trans fats from their products. The new soybeans produce oil that doesn’t need to be hydrogenated.

The oil passed critical laboratory tests for frying and flavor stability last year, and is being made available this month to many major food companies for evaluation in various products.

The Food and Drug Administration has given food manufacturers until 2006 to include trans fat information on package labels. Trans fats may raise blood cholesterol levels and contribute to heart disease. Most trans fats in the nation’s food supply are created in the hydrogenation process, which is used to extend shelf life and stabilize flavor in countless baked, fried and processed foods, including chips, snack crackers, cookies, candies and salad dressings.

Manufacturers hydrogenate soybean oil to reduce its content of unsaturated fatty acids, particularly linolenic acid, the primary culprit responsible for causing food to become stale or rancid. Soybeans typically produce oil with seven percent linolenic acid. Iowa State’s new soybean oil has only one percent linolenic acid.

The new soybean was developed through conventional breeding practices. We started working on the project in the late 1960s. By the early 1990s, we had isolated the three soybean genes that control the one percent linolenic acid trait.

The Iowa State University Research Foundation holds the patent for the one percent linolenic acid soybean.

This year, the one percent linolenic soybeans were planted and harvested in Michigan by Zeeland Farm Services Inc., Zeeland, Mich. In early November, 210,000 pounds of crude oil were extracted from the harvested soybeans. Loders Croklaan, a producer of specialty and nutritional oils and fats in Joliet, Ill., will refine about 70,000 pounds of the oil for distribution to oil suppliers and food companies that have purchased it for testing. The remaining crude oil will be kept in Michigan until more refined oil is needed.

Interest in the new oil is growing. A major supplier of frying oil this week requested oil for testing. In addition, Fehr will travel to Japan next week to discuss the new oil with representatives of their vegetable oil industry.

To cut trans fats in their products by 2006, the food industry could switch from soybean oil to alternative oils that don’t contain linolenic acid. However, the supply of alternative oil is limited.

“There aren’t enough acres of alternative vegetable oil crops, like canola or sunflower, to meet the industry’s oil needs.

More than 73 million acres of soybeans are grown in the United States. Soybeans supply 81 percent of the U.S. food industry’s needs for edible oils and fats.

I am working with Iowa grower groups, including Innovative Growers and the Iowa Quality Agriculture Guild, that will plant the one percent linolenic acid soybean next spring.

This is a special opportunity for growers who already are getting a premium for their non-GMO soybeans. The current premium applies only to the value of the non-GMO protein obtained from the soybeans. The one percent linolenic acid soybeans will make it possible to get an additional premium for the oil.

Growers will plant about 40,000 acres of the one percent linolenic acid varieties in 2004 to obtain the seed needed for large-scale oil production in 2005. We’ll need one million acres in 2005 to meet the demand that the food industry estimates it will have for this oil.

This is great news. I don't believe that the food companies care about us, and they are probably dismayed because trans-fats are such wonderful high profit-margin ingredients. But I think people are really starting to pay attention to what they are eating, and these companies are afraid we will refuse to buy their crap if they don't change quickly. Consumer driven change - I love the trend!

I was actually pretty surprised when I was reading the Mary Enig book a couple of weeks ago and she mentioned that restaurants get partially hydrogenated oils to use in the deep fryers instead of regular oil to prevent oxidation so it can be reused and last longer.

Restaurants are one of the biggest course of trans-fat in our diet. Trans-fat are invariably cheaper and last longer than regular fat, so they are favored. Problem is we are totally in the dark about this because restaurants are not required to provide ingredient listing

Yes, you can pretty well assume its trans-fat unless otherwise posted (and I haven't seen that yet). That usually includes chicken parmignon, chicken wings, french fries, zuchini sticks, meat balls, anything fried (e.g., bacon and eggs) - the works. I got my local restaurant to use olive oil on the Greek salad, but that's it so far.

Add salad oil to that list. I caught a glimpse of the ingredients for Ryan's [Liquid] Salad Oil a while back:



Needless to say, I now bring my own Salad Oil made with Olive and/or Coconut Oils.

I take exception to bacon and eggs containing "trans fats". The natural saturated fats in bacon and other meats are NOT converted to trans fats when heated. Trans fats are created when oils are bubbled with hydrogen and extra hydrogen atoms are inserted in the "trans" position in the fat chain as opposed to the "cis" position in which they would exist in nature.
Eat bacon and eggs literally to your heart's content.
!
Michael
Australia