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FDA to ban trans-fats within 3 years
The FDA is finally rectifying one of their biggest failures ever -- trans fats. The FDA on Tuesday ruled that trans fat is not "generally recognized as safe" for use in human food.
"In many ways, trans fat is a real tragic story for the American diet," Nissen said. "In the 1950s and '60s, we mistakenly told Americans that butter and eggs were bad for them and pushed people to margarine, which is basically trans fat. What we've learned now is that saturated fat is relatively neutral -- it is the trans fat that is really harmful and we had made the dietary situation worse."
USA to ban partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil
According to multiple sources, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is set to ban partially-hydrogenated oil, a major source of trans-fats, which have been shown to cause heart disease. The ban will go into effect in 3 years.
The agency has proposed that partially hydrogenated oils, the source of trans fats, no longer be "generally recognized as safe."
That means companies would have to prove that such oils are safe to eat, a high hurdle given that scientific literature overwhelmingly shows the contrary. The Institute of Medicine has concluded that there is no safe level for consumption of them, a conclusion that the F.D.A. cited in its reasoning.
Partially hydrogenated oils are cheaper than saturated animal fats like butter, and for years were thought to be healthier. They are formed when liquid oil is treated with hydrogen gas and made solid. They became popular in fried and baked goods and in margarine. Crisco, originally marketed in the beginning of the 20th century, was the archetype, although it now contains no trans fat.
Official press release from the FDA:
In 2013, the FDA made a tentative determination that PHOs could no longer be considered GRAS [generally recognized as safe] and is finalizing that determination after considering public comments.
Since 2006, manufacturers have been required to include trans fat content information on the Nutrition Facts label of foods. Between 2003 and 2012, the FDA estimates that consumer trans fat consumption decreased about 78 percent and that the labeling rule and industry reformulation of foods were key factors in informing healthier consumer choices and reducing trans fat in foods. While trans fat intake has significantly decreased, the current intake remains a public health concern.
The oils were popularized in the 1950s, when it was thought that they would be healthier than saturated fats. Americans turned to products such as trans fat-laden margarine in droves after the federal government recommended a cutback in saturated animal fats.
Today, there is a broad scientific consensus that the oils contribute to heart disease and are linked to type two diabetes.
A young nutritionist at the University of Illinois discovered some of the first evidence that the oils could be unhealthy in 1957, when he found large amounts of the fat in the clogged arteries of patients who died of heart attacks. The scientist, Fred Kummerow, followed that discovery with decades of scientific papers, despite that his findings wouldn't be widely accepted until decades later.
In August 2013, with the help of San Diego attorney Gregory S Weston, Kummerow sued the FDA for its inaction, saying it had violated the New Deal-era legislation that granted the FDA authority over food safety. By November, the FDA had responded to the lawsuit by issuing the tentative ruling.
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday June 17 2015, @07:59AM
Look how much progress the alcohol prohibition and war on drugs brought to the US society
Nobody gets a high, or pleasure out of noshing on margarine. Nobody is selling on the street corner.
There is really no incentive to work around this prohibition any more than going out of your way to get around regulation about lead in paint.
Margarine was an invention of bad science, foisted on the public, which really still wanted butter. Its being belatedly replaced by better science.
There are dozens of things that have gone quietly into oblivion by science pointing out the stupidity, or governments eventually outlawing them.
Most of us cut transfat out of our diet 10 years ago.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday June 17 2015, @10:27AM
As I understand it, margarine was originally a wartime substitute for butter and nobody really liked it as much. After the war as things were normalizing, the industry wanted to find a way to keep selling the inferior but profitable product, and so suddenly it became "better for you".
Personally, based on my own survey of the evidence, I haven't willingly consumed margarine since the early '80s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2015, @01:29PM
So why aren't you wary of similar machinations this time around?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday June 17 2015, @07:53PM
Because I've looked at the actual research rather than the claptrap from the TV.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 17 2015, @09:51PM
Link to one good paper on this topic.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday June 17 2015, @11:22AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford