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CNN Live At Daybreak
Look at Artery Clogging Trans Fats
Aired July 09, 2003 - 06:24 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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it makes everything from donuts to fried chicken taste better, but doctors say it's not good for you. The culprit? Artery clogging trans fats. Right now you have no way of knowing how much trans fat you're eating because you won't find it listed on the labels. But that's about to change.
Later this morning, the FDA will announce new regulations forcing food makers to reveal how much trans fat their products actually contain.
Nutritionist Lisa Drayer of Dietwatch.com joins us live from New York.
And, Lisa, what in the heck is a trans fat anyway?
LISA DRAYER, NUTRITIONIST: Right. Well, a trans fat is simply a fat that starts out as a liquid, like a liquid vegetable oil. Then it undergoes this process known as hydrogenation and what happens is it becomes more solid like. So remember we heard that margarines were just as bad as butter? The reason was because margarines contain a lot of these trans fats, but also a lot of the commercially prepared baked goods that we see in supermarket shelves, crackers, also fried foods, specifically French fries. They have very high amounts of trans foods.
Now, they're added to increase the shelf life of foods. So, for example, a packaged donut would stay fresh for a longer amount of time because of the trans fats. Also, with fried foods, they allow oils to stay stable at higher temperatures for longer periods of time.
WHITFIELD: So if it's also used to help in a lot of these packaged goods, then almost anyone can naturally assume that any packaged food is going to have a significant amount of this trans fat in it. So either stay away from it or really pay attention to these new labels.
DRAYER: Exactly. Pay attention. But it might be a while before we see the actual trans fat listed on the label, because the manufacturers will have some time to comply. So in the meantime what you can do is look at the ingredient list. If you see the word partially hydrogenated oil and the food is high in total fat, if you see this combination, you can count on the foods being high in trans fats.
Now, so the reason we do need to watch is because they can be harmful. They may even be more harmful than the saturated fats that we've heard about in the past. And the reason is they increase the LDL cholesterol. This is the harmful cholesterol. And they may also decrease the HDL, the good cholesterol. So it's really important to read those labels carefully.
WHITFIELD: So outside of looking for partially hydrogenated oil, what other sorts of tips or what other things can we look for?
DRAYER: Sure. Well, you definitely want to avoid pastries, wrapped cookies, crackers, Wheat Thins, for example, contain these partially hydrogenated oils or trans fats, so you want to read those labels carefully.
Also, in addition to the pastries, cookies and donuts, avoid the fried foods. As I mentioned early, French fries contain very high amounts and you will see -- you won't see them, actually, in fast food restaurants, because you don't see labels. But those restaurants typically contain trans fats, that is, the food in those restaurants. Also, look for trans-free margarines, for example, Smart Beat and Promise and Fleischman's all make margarines that are free of trans fats.
And go for trans free snacks. You can find pretzels now. Like, for example, Rold's (ph) makes pretzels that don't have any trans fats and you can see that listed now on the labels. Also, Frito-Lay will soon remove the trans fats from all of their Doritos, Chitos and Tostidos. They've got that right.
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. So there are going to be all those stamps on the front now. Not only is it going to be fat-free, but it'll say trans fat-free, low sodium.
DRAYER: Right.
WHITFIELD: I mean this is getting crazy.
DRAYER: We'll see multiple labels, yes. But you want -- but soon we'll just be able to look at those words trans fat. It'll be listed underneath total fat on that label.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much.
Lisa Drayer, always good to see you.
Thanks very much.
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 July 9, 2003 - 06:24 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it makes everything from donuts to fried chicken taste better, but doctors say it's not good for you. The culprit? Artery clogging trans fats. Right now you have no way of knowing how much trans fat you're eating because you won't find it listed on the labels. But that's about to change.
Later this morning, the FDA will announce new regulations forcing food makers to reveal how much trans fat their products actually contain.
Nutritionist Lisa Drayer of Dietwatch.com joins us live from New York.
And, Lisa, what in the heck is a trans fat anyway?
LISA DRAYER, NUTRITIONIST: Right. Well, a trans fat is simply a fat that starts out as a liquid, like a liquid vegetable oil. Then it undergoes this process known as hydrogenation and what happens is it becomes more solid like. So remember we heard that margarines were just as bad as butter? The reason was because margarines contain a lot of these trans fats, but also a lot of the commercially prepared baked goods that we see in supermarket shelves, crackers, also fried foods, specifically French fries. They have very high amounts of trans foods.
Now, they're added to increase the shelf life of foods. So, for example, a packaged donut would stay fresh for a longer amount of time because of the trans fats. Also, with fried foods, they allow oils to stay stable at higher temperatures for longer periods of time.
WHITFIELD: So if it's also used to help in a lot of these packaged goods, then almost anyone can naturally assume that any packaged food is going to have a significant amount of this trans fat in it. So either stay away from it or really pay attention to these new labels.
DRAYER: Exactly. Pay attention. But it might be a while before we see the actual trans fat listed on the label, because the manufacturers will have some time to comply. So in the meantime what you can do is look at the ingredient list. If you see the word partially hydrogenated oil and the food is high in total fat, if you see this combination, you can count on the foods being high in trans fats.
Now, so the reason we do need to watch is because they can be harmful. They may even be more harmful than the saturated fats that we've heard about in the past. And the reason is they increase the LDL cholesterol. This is the harmful cholesterol. And they may also decrease the HDL, the good cholesterol. So it's really important to read those labels carefully.
WHITFIELD: So outside of looking for partially hydrogenated oil, what other sorts of tips or what other things can we look for?
DRAYER: Sure. Well, you definitely want to avoid pastries, wrapped cookies, crackers, Wheat Thins, for example, contain these partially hydrogenated oils or trans fats, so you want to read those labels carefully.
Also, in addition to the pastries, cookies and donuts, avoid the fried foods. As I mentioned early, French fries contain very high amounts and you will see -- you won't see them, actually, in fast food restaurants, because you don't see labels. But those restaurants typically contain trans fats, that is, the food in those restaurants. Also, look for trans-free margarines, for example, Smart Beat and Promise and Fleischman's all make margarines that are free of trans fats.
And go for trans free snacks. You can find pretzels now. Like, for example, Rold's (ph) makes pretzels that don't have any trans fats and you can see that listed now on the labels. Also, Frito-Lay will soon remove the trans fats from all of their Doritos, Chitos and Tostidos. They've got that right.
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh. So there are going to be all those stamps on the front now. Not only is it going to be fat-free, but it'll say trans fat-free, low sodium.
DRAYER: Right.
WHITFIELD: I mean this is getting crazy.
DRAYER: We'll see multiple labels, yes. But you want -- but soon we'll just be able to look at those words trans fat. It'll be listed underneath total fat on that label.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much.
Lisa Drayer, always good to see you.
Thanks very much.
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
