Within three years all processed foods in the U.S. will be trans fat-free, but what will be used instead?
The Food and Drug Administration’s decision on Tuesday was based on concern that long-term use of trans fats can lead to heart attacks, but what exactly will replace them and will it be a healthy alternative?
Trans fatty acids act as a binder in partially hydrogenated oils used in cooking processed foods. Think of a regular blueberry muffin, which uses trans fats to bind the crumbs together.
“If you just put an ordinary oil in there it would just fall to pieces,” Richard Williams, vice president for policy research at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told the Washington Examiner.
Other products that use trans fats include coffee creamers, cakes, frozen pies, cookies, ready-to-use frosting and refrigerated dough products such as cinnamon rolls and biscuits.
The FDA gave the food industry until 2018 to phase out trans fats. The agency will allow artificial trans fats in foods only through a waiver.
About 85 percent of artificial trans fat already has been eliminated, according to the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. The decline is attributed to years of public health campaigns spurred by a 2006 FDA decision to mandate its inclusion on nutrition labels.
Many states and localities have already adopted bans on trans fats as well.
So in three years, after they’ve been completely eliminated, what will companies use to keep the flakiness in their pie crusts?
Williams, a former FDA official, said he doesn’t know, and that is a problem.
“Before a government agency bans a product, like trans fats, they have an obligation to try and find out what is likely to substitute for that product to ensure that we are not doing more harm than good,” he said.
Companies could turn to saturated fats found in butter or lard, but those are just as bad for you.
Manufacturers have generally switched to safer liquid oils that can create products usually lower in saturated fats, according to a 2010 analysis from the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest.
Other companies have turned to different types of oils such as unsaturated palm olive, canola and soy. Popular chip brand Frito-Lay starting using some of these oils as far back as 2003.
But these oils have their own downsides. For instance, foods that use unsaturated oils don’t have a long shelf life, according to a 2007 article in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.
Another alternative is genetically modified seeds that can be the sources of modified oils. However, the technology is expensive and not widely adopted, according to Dr. David Klonoff, a California doctor who wrote the journal piece.
Consumers have pushed back recently against any genetically modified ingredients in food, and some eateries such as Chipotle have sworn off the ingredients. Efforts to label genetically modified foods are being pursued by advocates.
There may be success with reformulating existing oils and products. The 2010 center analysis analyzed 83 reformulated products and found that major brand-name products generally reduced trans fat content a lot without making the same increase to saturated fats.
Levels of saturated fats in restaurants also were reduced, according to the analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Our findings do not support concerns that voluntary or mandatory reductions in trans fat from partially hydrogenated oils would lead to broad increases in saturated fat,” the analysis said.
