TRANS FAT NEWS 2007
TRANS FAT NEWS
1 JANUARY 2007
STOP TRANS FAT, a campaign to create greater consumer awareness
about the extreme harm of trans fats, was launched in Singapore
by Richard Seah, a writer with special interest in natural health.
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I am especially interested in developments outside the US, since there is not much information about such developments on the Internet. Click here to email me.
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Philadelphia to ban trans fats
Philadelphia is set to become the second major US city to ban trans fat. Members of the City Council voted unanimously on 8 February to impose such a ban and Mayor John Street is expected to sign the bill. The ban will take effect 1 September 2007.
"We need to battle heart disease in a sustainable and preventative and more intelligent manner," said Juan Ramos, the council member responsible for the Philadelphia legislation.
It took five years for Philadelphia City Council to agree on a smoking ban, but mere weeks to approve the trans fat ban after the idea was first proposed.
Philadelphia's ban will be enforced by the Health Department, but it does not include penalties for violators. Juan Ramos said he does not expect eateries to flout the law, and he said penalties could be created if they were later deemed necessary.
The bill defines food as trans fat-free so long as it contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.
TRANS FAT NEWS : 29 January 2007
Taiwan to introduce trans fat labelling
Taiwan's Department of Health announced on 29 February that it will legislate trans fat labelling by mid-2007.
“It's time to give consumers a choice,” said Cheng Hui-wen director of the Bureau of Food Safety (BFS) at the Department of Health.
Cheng Hui-wen added, however, that trans fat labelling inTaiwan might not extend to corner pastry shops, due to concerns that pastry makers would switch to saturated fats such as lard if they can no longer use trans fat. Click here to read more.TRANS FAT NEWS : 12 January 2007
Trans fats and infertility
The latest research on trans fats reveal a strong link between trans fats and infertility.“The more trans fats a woman ate, the more likely she was to be infertile”, said Dr Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health.
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Dr Jorge Chavarro and his team of Harvard researchers said trans fats could interfere with the activity of a cell receptor involved in inflammation, glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity.
This, in turn, could lead to infertility as drugs that activate the receptor have been shown to improve fertility in women with a condition known as polycystic ovary syndrome.
The latest research findings were reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The Harvard team had analysed data from 18,555 healthy US women participating in the Nurses' Health Study. All were married and trying to get pregnant between 1991 and 1999. They found that:
- For every 2 percent increase in the amount of calories a woman got from trans fats instead of carbohydrates, her risk of infertility increased by 73 per cent.
- For every 2 percent increase in calories from trans fats instead of Omega-6 poyunsaturated fats, her risk of infertility increased by 79 per cent.
- For every 2 percent increase in the amount of calories from trans fats instead of monounsaturated fats, her risk of infertility more than doubled.
For an average woman eating about 1,800 calories a day, a 2 percent increase in calories from trans fats would come from just 4 grams of trans fats.
"It's not very hard to get 4 grams of trans fatty acids every day," Dr Jorge Chavarro said. "It's really a small amount of trans fatty acids that we observe having a significant effect on infertility."
TRANS FAT NEWS : 16 January 2007
Donuts go trans fat free
Another piece of trans fat news from the US is that donuts are the latest junk foods to go trans fat free.
Several America donut makers are reported to have turned to "all natural" recipes and are using trans fat free oils for frying.
They include the Doughnut Plant in New York, Mighty-O Donuts and Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle.
Dunkin Donuts said it has been testing new recipes for two years and is close to switching to trans fat free oils for frying.
Note, however, that not having trans fats will only make donuts "less unhealthy” rather than “healthier”. The average donut is still made from refined flour and contains far too much sugar.
TRANS FAT NEWS : 5 January 2007
Starbucks to eliminate trans fats
Starbucks started the new year by eliminating trans fats from about half of its US cafes.
These include Starbuck cafes in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon -- all of which will have zero trans fats on their menus.
Starbucks said it had been planning the switch for two years,
Its nationally distributed pastries, primarily seasonal items like the Gingerbread loaf cake, were already trans-fat free.
Other pastries are baked by regional bakeries and not every supplier has made the switch. But Starbucks expects them to do so in the near future.
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