Trans fat levels among American adults on the decline
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that American adults, on average, substantially reduced their intake of trans fats between 1999 and 2010.
A study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that American adults, on average, substantially reduced their intake of trans fats between 1999 and 2010. Trans fat has been central to many food policy initiatives in the past two decades, beginning with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendation that Americans limit their intake of trans fats to reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease. In addition, since 2006, food manufacturers have been required by the federal government to declare the trans fat content of foods on the Nutrition Facts labels of packaged food products. In a 2012 report, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) researchers found evidence that food manufacturers responded to these two policy decisions by reformulating many of their food products to eliminate or reduce trans fat contents over the 2005–2010 period.
So, did dietary advice and food product reformulations result in a decrease in dietary intake of trans fats? The researchers in the current study used data on blood plasma levels of trans fats among American adults aged 20+ from the 1999–2000 and 2009–2010 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), a nationally representative survey that assesses the health and nutritional status of Americans. The sum of four different types of trans fat were considered in the analysis, and two types were considered in isolation: one that is commonly found in partially hydrogenated oils—the principal source of artificial or industrially produced trans fat in the food supply—and another that is naturally occurring in ruminant animals and present in small quantities in dairy products.
To estimate the difference in blood plasma levels of trans fats between the time periods, the study employed a model that controlled for changing demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors that could affect the amount of trans fats detected in the blood. Findings show that, overall, blood plasma levels of trans fats fell by 52.5% from 1999–2000 to 2009–2010. The decline in blood plasma levels of a type of trans fat often found in partially hydrogenated oils was greater (58.6%) than the decline in blood plasma levels of a trans fat often found in dairy products (51.3%).