EU may act to ban heart-disease risk trans fats

Trans fatty acids, one of the biggest contributors to Europe’s number one killer of heart disease, may be banned or labelled following an investigation by the EU.

Eating even quite small amounts of trans fats can increase the risk of dying from heart disease by as much as a third — more than any other nutrient.

Trans fats come from two sources — industrially produced as oils, and naturally from the fat in the meat and dairy products of animals, including beef and sheep. It is not known if the industrial fats are more harmful than the animal fats.

However, the biggest culprits are foods like pre-packaged biscuits, cakes, wafers, deep-fried and convenience foods and popcorn where up to half their fat contact is composed of trans fats — up to 50g per 100g of fat.

They are not easy to spot as they are listed in the ingredients list as ‘partially hydrogenated oils’, and the quantity of trans fats in this is not given. And ‘fully hydrogenated oils’ contain saturated fatty acids only and do not contain the harmful trans fat acids.

The European Commission is holding a consultation to decide what to do about trans fats — whether they should be labelled voluntarily or mandatory or banned.

A World Health Organisation report said “national and local bans were most effective at eliminating” trans fats while labelling was not as successful.

Four countries have already taken action to reduce the amount of trans fats that can be used in food to 2g per 100g of fats. These are Denmark, Latvia, Austria, and Hungary.

The EU is lagging behind most regions of the world in not having schemes for labelling or limiting trans fats. In June, the US Food and Drug Administration said the scientific evidence on partially hydrogenated oils — industrial tanks fats — “are not generally recognised as safe” for use in human food.

Food manufacturers have three years to remove these oils from products unless they are specifically approved by the administration.

The quantity of trans fats have been reducing in some countries over the past few years. They have not decreased in some central and southern European countries while students and poorer people were consuming too much.