US to ban artificial trans fat in processed foods

WASHINGTON DC -- Artificial trans fat, which has been linked to an increased risk of coronary heart disease, will be banned in food supply by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA announced its preliminary determination in a statement that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not "generally recognized as safe" for use in food.

The agency said the preliminary determination is based on available scientific evidence and the findings of expert scientific panels.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said: "While consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concern."

Hamburg added that the ban on use of trans fats in processed food could prevent an additional 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year in the United States.

Consumption of trans fat raises low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad" cholesterol, increasing the risk of coronary heart disease. The independent Institute of Medicine (IOM) has concluded that trans fat provides no known health benefit and that there is no safe level of consumption of artificial trans fat.

The IOM also recommends that consumption of trans fat should be as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet.

In recent years, many food manufacturers and retailers in the U S have voluntarily decreased trans fat levels in many foods and products they sell.

However, trans fat can still be found in some processed foods, such as certain desserts, microwave popcorn products, frozen pizzas, margarine, and coffee creamers. Numerous retailers and manufacturers have already demonstrated that many of these products can be made without trans fat.

Since trans fat is required to be listed on the Nutrition Facts label of foods in 2006, trans fat intake among American consumers has declined from 4.6 grams per day in 2003 to about 1 gram per day in 2012, the FDA said.

The agency has opened a 60-day comment period on this preliminary determination to collect additional data and to gain input on the time potentially needed for food manufacturers to reformulate products that currently contain artificial trans fat should this determination be finalized.

Following a review of the submitted comments, if the FDA finalizes its preliminary determination, PHOs would be considered "food additives" and could not be used in food unless authorized by regulation, the agency said.

The FDA said its preliminary determination is only with regard to PHOs and does not affect trans fat that naturally occurs in small amounts in certain meat and dairy products.

source: interaksyon.com

High salt consumption endangers US kids - study

WASHINGTON DC - Children in the United States consume too much salt, putting them at risk for hypertension and other health problems, according to a study published Monday in the science review Pediatrics.

The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that kids between the ages of eight and 18 took in an average of 3,387 milligrams of sodium a day, more than twice the 1,500 daily recommended by doctors.

The study monitored the diets of 6,235 youths and found that their sodium intake was about the same as that of adults, with more than three-quarters of the salt coming from processed and fast foods.

Too much salt is linked to high blood pressure -- a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and several other problems which were once found almost exclusively in adults, but which are now increasingly seen in children.

The risk of high blood pressure was particularly high among overweight and obese youths, the CDC said.

Health officials in the United States called the study's findings alarming.

"It's very disturbing that this nation's children and teens consume too much salt in their diets at school and home," said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association (AHA)

"High blood pressure, once viewed as an adult illness is now affecting more young people because of high sodium diets and increasing obesity," she said.

"While new nutrition standards for school meals are helping, progress is slow. This study strongly underscores the need to move faster because our kids are on an early path to heart attacks and strokes."

The AHA urged the US Food and Drug Administration to set mandatory limits on the sodium content of foods and urged federal authorities to make the reduction of sodium a national priority.

source: interaksyon.com