051223 New FDA's New Rules Make Finding 'Bad Fat' Easier

To help promote the release of the movie "King Kong," Burger King has released its own monster: a Triple Whopper.

Your preference for the golden crown or golden arches aside, this burger joint's audacious offering deserves notice in this season of resolutions, packing a tremendous 1230 calories with cheese, weighing a hefty 480 grams, and containing 82 grams of fat, 32 grams of which are saturated and 3.5 grams of which are trans fat.

Add a large French fry, and you're adding another 500 calories, 8 grams of fat, 6 grams of which are saturated and 6 of which are trans fats.

Government nutritionists recommend about 2 grams of trans fats per day to maintain heart health.

But this is not an article about the fast food wars. It is an article about food and nutrition education, which the Food and Drug Administration have made easier for you in 2006 when the FDA's new nutritional information requirements take effect, revealing which food products at the store contain trans fat, the evil cousin of bad saturated fats.

Already, with the Jan. 1 deadline looming, it's apparent that grocery stores and food manufacturers are offering heart healthier oils and more products without the bad cholesterol. The heart healthy logo is abundant and partially hydrogenated oils are disappearing from ingredients.

"I think it's great that they're telling the public not only the cholesterol now, but also the fatty acids, which are the major components of triglycerides," said Dr. Michael Shen, one of the country's leading specialists in preventive cardiovascular diseases medicine at the Cleveland Clinic's Weston campus.

Shen refers to triglycerides, a form of fat, which often correlates with high cholesterol in people with bad coronary health. It is triglycerides that physicians measure in your blood to monitor cholesterol levels. Trans fat contributes to high levels of bad cholesterol.

Shen said that reliable medical technologies, such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, that allow for better triglyceride analysis, coupled with the FDA's labeling regulations for consumers, is helping to attack bad heart health from two ends — medicine and education.

"In Florida, there are a lot of elderly people. So, if you can make the information transparent, it's good for the public to make better decisions."

The leading source of trans fats are partially hydrogenated oils, or liquid oils made hard for cooking or eating purposes. Margarine is good example of a block of trans fats. Trans fats lower a body's level of good cholesterol, or high-density lipoproteins, and increases bad cholesterol, or low-density lipoproteins. In some foods, such as animal meat, there is no way to avoid trans fat. But the sources for trans fat can be surprising.

The FDA, for instance, once estimated that among store-bought baked goods, 100 percent of crackers contained trans fat.

Since announcement of the new requirements, 7 of 10 top cracker makers have eliminated the fat.

Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard University's School of Public Health, has conducted numerous published studies on coronary health in women and men, written books on health, and was a leading figure pushing the U.S.

Department of Agriculture to replace its outmoded food pyramid, which the USDA did replace in 2005. Willett said in a statement that replacing unhealthy partially hydrogenated oils, like trans fats, with unsaturated fats would prevent at least 30,000 deaths and as many as 100,000 from heart disease each year.

Dr. Marjorie Chutkan, a dietitian with Lee Memorial Health Service, echoed Willett's com ments and advises consumers to read their food labels and stay away from products made with stick margarine's and shortening.

"We encourage people to stay away from store-bought products and do most of their baking at home," said Chutkan, offering tips. "You can replace some of the fats with apple sauce, for example. Soft margarine in tubs or that you can squeeze from bottles are more heart friendly. The first ingredient should be liquid oils, and then you know you're getting less trans fats."

Canola, peanut and olive oils are examples of heart healthy cooking oils.

But consumers won't know what they're eating at most restaurants, as the FDA regulations do not exist for restaurants. For example, you would not be aware that the Triple Whopper and its French side dish contain such huge amounts of artery-hardening fats — saturated and trans — without visiting the chain's Web site and viewing the information for yourself. On the other hand, at least Burger King makes the information available, which is more than can be said for the millions of restaurants out there that do not post nutritional information on their menus or on the food packages. Think of your favorite local diner or chain restaurant. McDonald's, for example, pledged to eliminate trans fat from its menu in 2002, but reneged in 2003.

However, some restaurants and food manufacturers are making headway. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit advocacy organization mainly concerned with health and nutrition, has collected a list of food manufacturers cutting out the partially hydrogenated oils.

The list includes Kraft Foods, Gorton's, the maker of Entenmann's and Freihofer brands, and McCain. Some restaurants that have changed to healthier oils include Au Bon Pain, Panera Bread, California Pizza Kitchen, Ruby Tuesday, and Chik-fil-A.

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