FDA Trans Fats Ban Aims at Preventing Thousands of Deaths
The Food and Drug Administration is going to implement a ban and trans fat as a way to further protect public health.
The FDA announced on Thursday that it will implement guidelines specifically for the food industry in order to phase out all trans fats from food over an unspecified time. The FDA has stated that they are taking this course of action due to the public health risk that trans fats pose. Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and 7,000 deaths.
Hamburg added that despite the fact that overall consumption of trans fats have steadily decreased over the past decade, they "remain an area of significant public health concern."
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Consumption of trans fats have long been criticized by nutritionists and cities across the nation, including New York, have banned or significantly curbed their use.
There has not been a timeline published for the phase-out and there will be a period of time to collect input from the food industry to get a sense of how long it might take, given that different foods make take longer to phase out trans fats use than others.
"We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," says Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, "industry has demonstrated that it is by and large feasible to do."
In addition to the known negative effects on a person's heath, trans fat may also be harmful to your brain, colon, prostate and breast health.
Trans fats are known to elevate the bad LDL cholesterol and lower the good HDL cholesterol. In fact, a meta analysis of 60 research trials that found the single most effective measure for improving blood fat levels is to replace trans fatty acids with polyunsaturated fats from un-hydrogenated oils.
Ongoing research suggests that these fats, found in some fried foods, baked goods and processed foods, may also increase the risk of stroke as well as colon, prostate and breast cancer.
