|
27 % of 84,000+ foods sold in the US contain artificial trans fat: EWG
|
|
May 27 , 2015
|
|
|
A recently-released analysis by US-based EWG (Environmental Working
Group) estimates that at least 27 per cent of more than 84,000 foods in
EWG’s Interactive Food Scores Database, contain artificial trans fat, a
manmade, artery-clogging, industrially-produced fat that bears part of
the blame for the American heart disease epidemic.
Another 10 per
cent of the foods in the database have been made with ingredients
likely to contain trans fat. This means that fully 37 per cent of the
foods in EWG’s extensive database, which covers a wide variety of items
commonly available in supermarkets across the nation, probably or
certainly contain a substance strongly implicated in heart disease.
Worse,
in most cases, shoppers have no way to make an informed choice to avoid
a product with trans fat. Only two per cent of the foods in EWG’s
database admit on their labels that they contain trans fat, according to
EWG analysis of information in EWG’s Food Scores, a comprehensive tool
with extensive information on ingredients and potential contaminants.
The
vast majority of foods with this substance escape notice by slipping
through a federal regulatory loophole that permits trans fat content of
less than half a gram per serving to be rounded off to zero. EWG found
that 87 per cent of the over 7,500 foods containing partially
hydrogenated oils – Americans’ principle dietary source of trans fats --
did not disclose that fact. Instead, the labels of more than 6,500 of
these items rounded off their trans fat content to 0 gram.
Because
of the trans fat loophole, thousands of nutrition labels on supermarket
foods are misleading, and the consequences are serious. Those
undisclosed half-gram squirts and dollops of invisible, hidden trans fat
add up fast —and even faster for children, who need fewer calories than
adults and should consume relatively less trans fat. A few slices of
frozen pizza and a packaged cookie or two can spike a child’s trans fat
intake to unhealthy levels. Serving size is critical – and it’s easy to
underestimate. A person who eats an entire package with several small
“servings” can consume multiple grams of trans fat at one time.
EWG’s
findings, the most extensive look to date at hidden trans fats on
supermarket shelves, are based on information collected in EWG’s Food
Scores Database and App, unique tools that make it easier for consumers
to avoid hidden trans fats in their food. Food Scores gives worse scores
to products that contain partially hydrogenated oils, compared to
similar foods that do not contain these harmful fats. In addition, Food
Scores product pages alert consumers to the presence of ingredients that
probably or definitely carry small amounts of trans fats, even when the
manufacturers take advantage of the trans fat loophole with a nutrition
facts panel that says, misleadingly, “Trans Fat 0.0 g.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOPICS
|
That foods might provide therapeutic benefits is clearly not a new concept. ...
|
|
|
|
|