Trans Fats

New York City’s health authorities decided to forbid restaurants from using trans fats starting on July 1, 2008. Why a ban on trans fats? An increasing number of people want to avoid eating fast food because they believe fast food contains trans fats. You may need more information about trans fats before you reach the same conclusion.

What Are Trans Fats? –

Roughly speaking, fats are divided into animal fats (saturated fatty acids) and vegetable fats (unsaturated fatty acids). Fats are not only one of the most important energy sources for the human body, but also a major component of cell membranes. They also maintain the body temperature. Intake of an appropriate amount of fats is necessary for growing children.

Trans fats, however, belong neither to animal fats nor to vegetable fats. They are artificially created as a side effect of hydrogenation of plant oils, which are liquid at normal temperature. The process turns plant oils into hardened ones more suitable for transportation and storage, but also creates unhealthy transit fats.

Moderate consumption of trans fats does not cause health problems. But excessive consumption are the cause of side effects such as blood clots, rising low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level, obesity, and cardiovascular diseases. Many processed foods popular with growing children are rich with trans fats. Children who are large consumers of such food are likely to develop serious health problems when they grow up.

What Food to Avoid? –

“Solid” oils such as margarine and shortening are top on your trans fat black list. Fries and bread are primary examples that include solid oils. If they are cooked with natural animal or plant oils, not solid ones, they might be trans fat-free.

Snacks fried in plant fats such as palm oils are relatively safe. Still, biscuits, chocolate, cookies and cakes are not healthy enough because most producers of them use solid oils to make their products look and taste better. Popcorns fried in plant oils are not harmful, but microwaveable popcorns are the ones you should avoid because they already have been fried in solid oils.

Fried chicken is gradually becoming a trans fat-free food item. In October, the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) sampled, analyzed fried chickens and confirmed that most producers have moved from solid oils to liquid ones.

Dairy products such as milk, yogurt, butter and cheese have trans fats. Though referred to as the same, the fats in these products are different from some unhealthy trans fats because they, unlike solid fats, are not the byproduct of artificial hydrogenation.

The conventional wisdom is not true that fast food is the “primary source” of trans fat consumption. Pizzas and hamburgers have very little or no trans fat. They use either a negligible amount of oil or liquid or animal fat such as butter and cheese.

The KFDA recommended the use of liquid plant oils instead of shortening when frying and advised against repetitive use of oil. For cooking toasts and stir-fried rice, it called for the use of a minimum amount of solid oils such as margarine.

What Are the Standards in Korea? –

Korea has woken up to the dangers of trans fat relatively early. In March, the KFDA, for instance, announced that it would regulate the use of trans fats.

The regulatory agency took its first step by tracing the amount of trans fats in nearly 450 processed foods, including snacks, oils and fats, and fast food (see the table). It also began research on production improvements and labeling rules by establishing a committee of experts to lower the amount of trans fats used.

In Korea, it is not yet legally required for food processors to label the amount of trans fats on their products. But from December of next year on, all processed food products must show the amount of trans fats contained under the revised Food Products Labeling Rules. These rules state that all food companies shall display the amount of sugars, trans fats and cholesterol — causes of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

For all the warnings and known dangers, there is no need for making a fuss over trans fats because a small amount of them consumed does not cause major health problems. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one does not have to worry about trans fat consumption if it stays under one percent of total daily calorie consumption. Considering that Korean children consume 2,000 calories a day on average, up to 200 calories or 2.2-2.5 grams of trans fats do no harm.

corekim@donga.com