Currently browsing posts about: Trans-fat

A low-fat spread with added plant sterols and fish omega-3 fatty acids lowers serum triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol concentrations in individuals with modest hypercholesterolaemia and hypertriglyceridaemia.  Blom AM, et al.  European Journal of Nutrition.  2019;58(4):1615–1624.

Purpose: “to investigate the triglyceride (TG) and LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering effects of a spread [i.e., margarine] with added plant sterols (PS) and fish oil as compared to a placebo spread.”

Conclusions: “Four-week consumption of the intervention spread led to significant and clinically relevant decreases in serum TG, LDL-C and other blood lipid concentrations.”

Funder: The study was funded by Unilever BCS Research and Development Vlaardingen, the Netherlands.

Conflicts of interest: of the authors, four are employed by Unilever.

Comment: Unilever makes margarines with plant sterols and fish oils.  You might buy them if they control blood lipid risk factors for heart disease.  This is in-house company research aimed at proving the benefits of a Unilever product, which is what so many other companies do.

But Unilever was one of the few Big Food companies that sponsored basic research (and maybe it still does?).  As I describe in my book, Unsavory Truth, Unilever was the sponsor of the basic research that demonstrated the harmful effects of trans-fat on disease risk.

Fat remains in the news.  Which ones are health, and which not?  FoodNavigator-USA collects its articles on the topic.  My thoughts:  Beyond that, food fats are mixtures of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fatty acids, of the omega-3, -6, and -9 varieties.  And then there are the hydrogenated trans-fats.  These variations make fats complicated.

One attribute of fats is not complicated: fat has 9 calories/gram compared to 4 for protein and carbohydrate.  A tablespoon of oil, butter, lard, or tallow has about 100 calories.  If you are concerned about energy balance, watch out for fat calories (and the other ones count too).

FoodNavigator’s Special Edition: Healthy fats
Fat – we are told – is back. But what kind of fat, and can you have too much of a good thing? Is the science changing on saturated fats? Is whole milk a better choice, or should we stick to low fat dairy? Is coconut oil as healthy as some marketers make out, and is the pressure off to reduce fat now all eyes are on added sugar?  Get the lowdown on fat in this special edition…

• Chewing the fat: Need help navigating the healthy fats minefield?:   Fats are often classed into good, bad and ugly categories. But do we know for sure which are which, and are consumers, food marketers, and health professionals all on the same page on this? Is the science really changing on saturated fats? And is the keto diet backed by sound science?.. Read
• Which fats do consumers think are healthiest (and are they on the same page as nutrition scientists)?  Olive oil is routinely ranked by consumers as the healthiest fat, says Cargill. But other oils also high in healthy mono- and poly-unsaturated fats – soybean, corn, and canola oil – all rank lower than coconut oil (which is high in saturated fat), while perceptions of lard and tallow are also improving, highlighting a disconnect between what consumers think about fats, and what nutritional scientists are telling them… Read
• What’s trending in the oils and fats aisle? From ghee to pumpkin seed oil: Ghee – a ‘clarified butter’ produced by boiling butter and pouring off the butterfat, leaving milk sugar (lactose) and protein (casein and whey) behind – is very high in saturated fat, but it’s gaining traction among shoppers looking for something new in the butters and spreads aisle, says specialty oils brand Carrington Farms… Read
• Is saturated fat really ‘back?’ In short, no, argue experts at ICVN 2018:“So the ketogenic diet, sure, it will cause you to lose weight in the short term. So would cholera, or a cocaine binge, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea,” observed Dr David Katz at the 7th International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition (ICVN) this week. “There is more than one way to eat badly and the American public is committed to exploring them all.”.. Watch now
• Replacing partially hydrogenated oils: In conversation with Qualisoy: With the June 18 deadline to drop partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) fast approaching, most food manufacturers have found alternatives, from palm oil, to liquid oils blended with palm fractions. But R&D work on interesterified high oleic oils that perform even better in some challenging applications than first and second wave solutions is ongoing, says soy industry expert Qualisoy… Read
• Has coconut oil lost its luster? New data from SPINS shows sharp sales declines in 2017: US retail sales of culinary coconut oil – a category demonstrating explosive growth in recent years – have continued to decline, according to new data from SPINS, with the strongest reversal of fortunes in the conventional (MULO) channel, where sales soared by 38.8% in 2015, but fell 5.2% in 2016, and sank 25.9% in 2017… Read
• Limit trans-fats and saturated fats to reduce CVD risk – WHO: The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a public consultation on draft guidelines for intake of saturated fats and trans-fats… Read
• Enzymatically interesterified oils in focus as PHO replacement deadline looms: There has been a recent growth in interest in enzymatic interesterification (EIE) as more formulators deploy the technology to replace partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) in some challenging applications as the June 18 deadline* to phase them out approaches, says one leading enzyme supplier… Read
• Omega-3s from plants: ‘This technology is going to have a massive impact on the industry’: As demand for omega-3s continues to rise, alternative sources are being explored, with many think that genetically engineered oil seed crops could have a massive impact on easing pressure on fish stocks… Read
• NAOOA strengthens olive oil quality standards to boost consumer confidence and sales: “It’s critical to encourage more people to use olive oil, not to intimidate them by thinking they can’t afford it or they’re not going to get the real deal. That’s why we continue working to strengthen our standards and educate consumers,” says Joseph Profaci, executive director, North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA)… Read
• FDA Commissioner: Removing PHOs from the food supply is a ‘significant public health achievement’:The FDA has made it clear it wants to remove all PHOs (partially hydrogenated oils) from the US food supply and has shot down the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s (GMA) petition seeking to allow specific and limited uses of PHOs… Read
• WHO pushes to remove artificial trans fat from diet and reduce overall trans fat intake: The World Health Organization’s draft recommendation that adults and children reduce trans-fatty acid intake to less than 1% of total energy and industrially produced trans-fatty acids be removed from the global supply chain leaves both public health and consumer rights advocates wanting more… Read
• ‘The lifestyle of including fat in your diet is here to stay’, says CoreFX CEO: The low-fat diet that was popular in past decades is an experiment that failed leading to a new relationship consumers have developed with food, particularly with “healthy fats”, says CoreFX Ingredients CEO, Denis Neville… Read
• FBOMB macadamia nut butter: ‘We’re very entrenched with the whole keto crowd right now’: While common when sitting at home on the couch, eating nut butters straight from the jar before hopping on a plane (if TSA didn’t confiscate) or during a rigorous workout can be a clumsy, messy experience, but FBOMB’s redesigned, single-serve pouches of macadamia nut butter solves for this pain point… Read
• ‘Don’t hold back’: Studies support eggs for heart health and prediabetics: An egg a day may reduce risk of stroke by 26%, and eating up to 12 per week does not negatively impact cholesterol for people with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, according to a couple of new studies… Read

The World Health Organization (WHO) is collecting comments until June 4 on its recent “consultation” (committee report) on saturated fat and trans fat.

The consultation recommends:

• Saturated fat: no more than 10% of calories
• Trans fat: no more than 1% of calories

These recommendations are consistent with

• WHO advice from 2002
• The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
• Other dietary recommendations dating back decades

I wish that dietary recommendations would refer to foods, not nutrients.

We don’t eat specific fatty acids.  We eat foods containing mixtures of saturated, unsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids; some foods have more than one kind than another.

Trans fats appear in highly processed foods.  Therefore, they are a euphemism for snack and other foods containing them.

As for saturated fats: the Dietary Guidelines give their main sources:

The guidelines use two layers of euphemisms.

• Saturated fat is a euphemism for meat and dairy foods; these have higher proportions of saturated fatty acids.
• “Mixed dishes” and “protein foods” are also euphemisms for meat and dairy foods.

But saying so is politically impossible.

Do comment on the WHO guidelines.  It may help clarify the recommendations.

Jason Huffman, Helena Bottemiller Evich, and Jenny Hopkinson of Politico Pro Agriculture have published their end-of-year assessment of game-changing events in food and agriculture policy last year.  Here’s their list:

• Avian flu blew up the U.S. egg industry.
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership deal got done.
• The battle over the Dietary Guidelines turned even nastier.
• The FDA banned most uses of trans fat.
• The FDA said a genetically engineered fish is safe to eat.
• The EPA released its final Waters of the U.S. rule, inciting the wrath of multiple industries, states and lawmakers.
• A federal judge sent peanut company executives to jail for decades for their part in a giant salmonella outbreak.
• The FDA released major rules to promote the safety of produce and imports.
• The FDA doubled down on added sugars on food labels, proposing daily values for the listings.

I’ve discussed most of these on this site (all except Waters of the US).

I can’t wait to see what this year brings—more of the same, for sure, but what else?  Stay tuned.

Let’s take a look at a rare industry-funded study with results contrary to the interests of the funders.

It addresses the question: Is naturally occurring trans fat from meat and dairy products healthier than industrially produced trans fat?

The answer: not really.

The study

Vaccenic acid and trans fatty acid isomers from partially hydrogenated oil both adversely affect LDL cholesterol: a double-blind, randomized controlled trial.  Sarah K Gebauer, Frédéric Destaillats, Fabiola Dionisi, Ronald M Krauss, and David J Baer.  Am J Clin Nutr, November 11, 2015,  doi: 10.3945/ajcn.115.116129.

• Conclusions: Total cholesterol (TC), LDL cholesterol, triacylglycerol, lipoprotein(a), and apolipoprotein B were higher after VA [vaccenic acid] than after iTFA [industrial trans fatty acids]; high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and apolipoprotein AI also were higher after VA. Compared with control, VA and iTFA both increased TC, LDL cholesterol, ratio of TC to HDL cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B…VA also increased HDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein AI, apolipoprotein B, and lipoprotein(a)…whereas iTFA did not. c9,t11-CLA [conjugated linoleic acid] lowered triacylglycerol…and had no effect on other lipoprotein risk factors.
• Funding:  Supported by USDA, Dairy Management Inc., Nestlé, and Dairy Australia. The funding organizations had no role in the conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Background

Everyone agrees that hydrogenated fats containing trans fatty acids (industrial trans fatty acids or iTFAs) raise the risk of LDL-cholesterol (the bad one) and, therefore, the risk of coronary artery disease.  But what about the naturally occurring trans fats that occur in meat and dairy products as a result of bacterial hydrogenation of fats in the rumens of ruminant animals (ruminant trans fatty acids or rTFAs)?

Some studies suggest that rTFAs do not raise the risk of coronary disease.  This study tests that hypothesis.  It found that the major rTFA, vaccenic acid, does indeed raise risk factors for coronary artery disease almost or more than do iTFAs.

To make sense of the study, you need to know:

• In iTFAs, the two major trans fats are elaidic acid 25%, and vaccenic acid 10%
• In rTFAs, the trans fats are vaccenic acid 45% and elaidic acid 5%
• Therefore, vaccenic acid is the major trans fat in rTFAs

What about Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA, or rumenic acid)?

The study also looked at intake of another rTFA, conjugated linoleic acid, which seems to have more benign properties but is present in such small amounts that it hardly makes a difference.  Although this study found CLA to have no effect on risk factors for coronary heart disease, a study from independently funded investigators judged it to have effects similar to that of other rTFAs.

What took so long to get this study published?

David Baer, who works for USDA, is the senior author on this paper.  I saw a slide presentation he did on this study in 2010.  Its results were already available.

In 2011, his group wrote a review of ruminant trans fats, but did not report these results (they were known, but not published).

In 2012, Dr. Baer wrote about ruminant trans fats, disclosed his dairy industry funding, but also did not report these results.  He concluded:

It is still difficult to draw definitive conclusions about the role of rTFAs in modulating risk of cardiovascular disease as mediated through changes in LDL and HDL cholesterol. Intake of these fatty acids is typically low in the diet.

I heard about this study last summer and wondered whether its funders were holding up publication.  I called Dr. Baer and asked.  He said the funders had nothing to do with the delay.  Instead, life had intervened—collaborators left, he was busy with other things, and was having trouble getting the paper published.

The bottom line

The study was done with purified vaccenic acid, not dairy fat, in amounts higher than those likely to be consumed in diets.  The authors say

Evidence…suggests that VA [vaccenic acid] consumed in amounts and foods typically found in the diet is inversely or not associated with CVD risk.

That’s one possible interpretation, but check the title of the editorial accompanying the paper: “In equal amounts, the major ruminant trans fatty acid is as bad for LDL cholesterol as industrially produced trans fatty acids, but the latter are easier to remove from foods.”

The funders of this study must be disappointed.  It was undoubtedly difficult and expensive to do, since it involved synthesis of pure vaccenic acid and a clinical trial of more than 100 subjects.

The funders must have hoped the study would show vaccenic acid to be as benign or even healthier than conjugated linoleic acid.  They bet wrong on this one.

This brings the score to 80:7 (sponsored studies with results favorable to the sponsor vs. those unfavorable).

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations are taking place this week in Maui, as usual, in deep secret.

Doug Palmer of Pro Politico describes the major food issues: dairy, origin names, pork, rice, and sugar.  The issues come down to market share.  Every country wants to protect its own products but have free access to markets in other countries.

Although not a food, tobacco best explains why the TPP makes people nervous.  US tobacco companies want the TPP to open new markets.  But one of the TPP provisions is said to allow corporations sue governments that pass rules that might hurt the corporation’s business.  Philip Morris sued Australia over its “plain packaging” law and is now suing Great Britain.

The US position is supposedly that a country’s measures  to protect the health of humans, animals, or plants should not be in violation of the TPP, and that challenges to tobacco-control measures should be cleared with TPP partners.   Malaysia, for example, has proposed to exempt tobacco-control measures from challenges under TPP.

Malaysia?

The State Department has just taken Malaysia off its list of the worst countries for human trafficking (see the July 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report).

What a coincidence.  This allows Malaysia to participate in TPP negotiations.

But what bad timing.  The Wall Street Journal has just published a harrowing story about the de facto slavery of palm-oil workers on Malaysian plantations (the New York Times just did one on “sea slaves” forced to fish for pet food or animal feed).

As Rainforest Action Network said of the Malaysia story in a press release:

July 27, 2015 (SAN FRANCISCO) – The Obama administration has removed Malaysia from the list of worst offenders for human trafficking and forced labor today, one day after The Wall Street Journal published an extensive report on human trafficking and forced labor on Malaysian palm oil plantations that directly supply major U.S. companies. Malaysia is one of 12 nations in the contentious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and inclusion of a country with the lowest ranking in the State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report would be problematic for the administration.

And then, there’s the trans-fat connection:  The US demand for replacement of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils has pushed Malaysia and other palm-oil countries to produce more palm oil, faster.

The Wall Street Journal explains:

Palm oil has been repeatedly named on the U.S. Department of Labor’s list of industries that involve forced and child labor, most recently in 2014. Activists have blamed palm-oil plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia for large-scale deforestation and human-rights abuses. Oil palm growers respond that the palm tree, a high-yield crop, is a useful tool for socioeconomic development.

The TPP is hard to understand, not least because negotiations are secret.  In giving the President the go-ahead to sign the agreement, Congress made two stipulations:

• Congress must be notified 90 days in advance of signing.
• The terms of the agreement must be disclosed to the public 60 days prior to signing.

At least that.  TPP deserves very close scrutiny.

I’m still catching up on what happened during the week I was offline in Cuba (more on that later this week).

One big event was the FDA’s announcement that it no longer considers artificial trans fat as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption, meaning that processed food manufacturers need to get rid of it.  They get three years to do so.

Here are the relevant documents:

• Federal Register Notice: Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils June 2015
• Federal Register Notice: Tentative Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils; Request for Comments and for Scientific Data and Information; Extension of Comment Period December 2013
• Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Removing Trans Fat)
• FDA Blog: Protecting Consumers from Trans Fat
• Press Release: The FDA takes step to remove artificial trans fats in processed foods

Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has petitioned the FDA to get rid of trans fats for decades, describes this move as a “huge advance.”

As for complications:

• The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is worried about the half-gram loophole:  “FDA memos show…80 percent of these uses [of partially hydrogenated oils containing trans fat] don’t require disclosure of the presence of trans fat because of the half-gram loophole.”
• Politico Pro reports that “food industry lawyers are already scouring the document in hopes of finding some way to shield them from legal action” and that a ban on trans fat will increase demand for palm oil causing widespread deforestation across Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Politico Pro also reports on a lawsuit filed immediately against Heinz for using trans fat in its frozen microwave french fries and tater tots while marketing its products as trans fat free.

I vote for the FDA’s move as a long-awaited step in the right direction.  Progress!

Addition, July 5:  The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board has a somewhat different view.  Trans fats are already gone, thanks to consumers, and all the FDA has done is to set up a basis for class-action suits.

Good try FDA.

ProPolitico Morning Agriculture has a story today that surprises me.  Food companies are opposing the FDA’s proposal to revoke the GRAS status of trans fats (see previous post).

Why am I surprised?  I thought we were done with this one.  I didn’t think it was all that difficult to find substitutes for partially hydrogenated oils.  When trans fats went on food labels, most companies didn’t take long to go trans-fat free.

Now food companies are complaining that the FDA has gone too far, needs to allow companies to keep small amounts in foods, and doesn’t really have the authority to revoke GRAS status.

Among the 1600 comments received by the FDA are these:

• ConAgra Foods
• Nestle (no relation)
• The Schwan Food Company,
• Archer Daniels Midland
• Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).  Note: its comment is 104 pages.
• Food Marketing Institute

Writing in favor of the revocation are:

• Center for Science in the Public Interest
• Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

As a reminder of what this is about, here’s a taste of what I said about trans fats in What to Eat:

Trans fats are not normal.   Hydrogenation causes some of the hydrogens in unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids to flip abnormally from the same side of the carbon chain (in Latin, “cis”) to the opposite side (“trans”).   The normal cis unsaturated fatty acids are flexible, which is why they are liquid; they bend and flow around each other.   But the change to trans causes unsaturated fatty acids to stiffen.  They behave a lot like saturated fatty acids in the body, where they can raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease.

Mind you, this is not new information.   My trans fat file has papers on heart disease risk dating back to the mid-1970s.   In 1975, for example, British scientists suggested that one reason poor people in England had higher rates of heart disease was that they so often ate fish-and-chips fried in partially hydrogenated oils.   Since then, researchers have consistently found trans fats to be just as bad–or worse–than saturated fats from the standpoint of heart disease risk.

The recent meta-analysis says much the same thing.

Let’s get rid of trans fats once and for all and be done with them.  I hope the FDA holds firm on this one.