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CNN Live At Daybreak
Skinny on Trans Fats
Aired January 29, 2003 - 06:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, just when you think you've heard it all about fat, there is more to digest. Have you heard of trans fatty acids? Those are the fats that can pack on the pounds and increase your risk of heart disease.
Our favorite dietitian, Lisa Drayer, joins us live from New York this morning with the skinny on trans fats.
And, Lisa, I'll be honest, this is really hard to understand.
LISA DRAYER, NUTRITIONIST: It is. Remember when McDonald's announced that they were reducing the amount of harmful fat in their French fries?
COSTELLO: Um-hmm.
DRAYER: It was these trans fatty acids, fats that are found in fried foods, but also in margarines and the highly processed basked goods that we see on the supermarket shelves. The bad news is these fats can increase our risk for heart disease, possibly even more so than the harmful fat that we've talked about in the past. That is...
COSTELLO: So how can you tell if trans fat is in food? I mean what ingredient adds that to foods?
DRAYER: Right. Well, what happens is these fats are formed during processing. Some do exist naturally, but, for instance, margarine starts off as a liquid oil and then it undergoes a process known as hydrogenation to become solid. But this forms the trans fats. They are added, however, to improve the freshness and increase the shelf life of foods. But...
COSTELLO: That's comforting.
DRAYER: But they do increase the risk of heart disease by raising the LDL, the bad cholesterol, and also by decreasing the HDL or the good cholesterol.
Because of this, it's important to consume as little as possible. Now, the good news is...
COSTELLO: OK, on that, how do you avoid it? As little as possible?
DRAYER: Yes.
COSTELLO: How do you avoid it? DRAYER: Absolutely. The Food and Drug Administration will soon be requiring that manufacturers list the amount of trans on food labels. But that won't happen until early this spring. Until then, avoid those pastries, the baked goods, the fried foods. We're talking the Entenmanns. Those are the highest in trans. Also, choose trans- free margarines. Smart Beat is an example of one of them. These are better options. And you can look at the label. If you notice that the total fat is high and if one of the first ingredients on the ingredient list is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, if you see this combination, you can count on the food being high in trans.
COSTELLO: OK, Lisa Drayer, thanks for making it easy for us.
We appreciate it.
DRAYER: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 29, 2003 - 06:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You know, just when you think you've heard it all about fat, there is more to digest. Have you heard of trans fatty acids? Those are the fats that can pack on the pounds and increase your risk of heart disease.
Our favorite dietitian, Lisa Drayer, joins us live from New York this morning with the skinny on trans fats.
And, Lisa, I'll be honest, this is really hard to understand.
LISA DRAYER, NUTRITIONIST: It is. Remember when McDonald's announced that they were reducing the amount of harmful fat in their French fries?
COSTELLO: Um-hmm.
DRAYER: It was these trans fatty acids, fats that are found in fried foods, but also in margarines and the highly processed basked goods that we see on the supermarket shelves. The bad news is these fats can increase our risk for heart disease, possibly even more so than the harmful fat that we've talked about in the past. That is...
COSTELLO: So how can you tell if trans fat is in food? I mean what ingredient adds that to foods?
DRAYER: Right. Well, what happens is these fats are formed during processing. Some do exist naturally, but, for instance, margarine starts off as a liquid oil and then it undergoes a process known as hydrogenation to become solid. But this forms the trans fats. They are added, however, to improve the freshness and increase the shelf life of foods. But...
COSTELLO: That's comforting.
DRAYER: But they do increase the risk of heart disease by raising the LDL, the bad cholesterol, and also by decreasing the HDL or the good cholesterol.
Because of this, it's important to consume as little as possible. Now, the good news is...
COSTELLO: OK, on that, how do you avoid it? As little as possible?
DRAYER: Yes.
COSTELLO: How do you avoid it? DRAYER: Absolutely. The Food and Drug Administration will soon be requiring that manufacturers list the amount of trans on food labels. But that won't happen until early this spring. Until then, avoid those pastries, the baked goods, the fried foods. We're talking the Entenmanns. Those are the highest in trans. Also, choose trans- free margarines. Smart Beat is an example of one of them. These are better options. And you can look at the label. If you notice that the total fat is high and if one of the first ingredients on the ingredient list is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, if you see this combination, you can count on the food being high in trans.
COSTELLO: OK, Lisa Drayer, thanks for making it easy for us.
We appreciate it.
DRAYER: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
