US regulators move to ban trans fats from foods

Posted on 8 November 2013 - 12:06pm
Last updated on 8 November 2013 - 02:17pm

WASHINGTON (Nov 8, 2013): US regulators on Thursday took steps to eliminate artery-clogging trans fats from processed foods like margarine, microwave popcorn and frozen pizza, saying that partially hydrogenated oils are not safe to eat.

The proposal by the Food and Drug Administration aims to reductranse heart disease and deaths by requiring packaged food-makers to choose safer mono and polyunsaturated fats.

The ban would not take effect right away. First, there is a 60-day comment period before the rule can become final. The FDA is also seeking feedback from industry on how long it would take them to change their recipes.

If the decision is made final, partially hydrogenated oils, which are made by incorporating hydrogen into liquid oil to make solid fat, would be considered food additives and could not be used in food unless given special regulatory approval.

Trans fats carry no health benefits, and the Institute of Medicine has determined that no level is safe for consumption.

The FDA said that "since trans fat content information began appearing in 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."

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said despite declines in consumption of trans fats over the past decade, Americans' "current intake remains a significant public health concern."

Cutting out trans fats in the American diet "could prevent an additional 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart disease each year," she said.

The FDA said its decision would not affect trans fats that occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, but would apply to man-made partially hydrogenated oils that are added to processed foods.

These fats, also known as PHOs, are commonly added to improve flavor and lengthen the shelf life of products like cookies, pies, cake frosting, chips, crackers, doughnuts, pizzas, margarine, coffee creamer and some cereals.

Eating trans fats causes an increase in bad cholesterol, or low-density lipo-protein (LDL), a leading risk factor in the development of coronary heart disease, which is the top cause of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many food manufacturers have voluntarily cut back their use of trans fats after a public health campaign to warn of the dangers built steam.

"But a substantial number of products still contain partially hydrogenated oils, which are the major source of trans fat in processed food," said Michael Taylor, the FDA's deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

"It may take some time" for food-makers to find ways to comply, he added.

Industry would have a high standard to meet in order to be able to use trans fats as a food additive.

It must be "demonstrated scientifically that there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from use of the ingredient," he told reporters.

"Companies are free to petition but they would have to meet that rigorous safety standard."

The FDA move was hailed by consumer groups as a major step forward.

"Artificial trans fat is a uniquely powerful promoter of heart disease, and today's announcement will hasten its eventual disappearance from the food supply," said Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director Michael Jacobson.

"Not only is artificial trans fat not safe, it's not remotely necessary. Many companies, large and small, have switched to healthier oils over the past decade."

Food industry representatives said they would cooperate with the FDA.

"Consumers can be confident that their food is safe and we look forward to working with FDA to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers," the Grocery Manufacturers Association said in a statement.

Nutrition experts and doctors applauded the FDA move, but warned that consumers should still be careful about saturated fat and cholesterol.

"If and when food manufacturers reformulate their products to remove trans fats, they often replace the hydrogenated oils with things like coconut and palm oil that are high in saturated fat," said Dana Angelo White, assistant clinical professor at Quinnipiac University. – AFP

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Joseph Murray, US organ transplant pioneer, dies at 93

27 November 2012 Last updated at 10:34 GMT

Dr Joseph Murray was a religious man who viewed his work as a "prayer"

Dr Joseph Murray, who won the Nobel prize for his pioneering work in human organ transplants, has died aged 93.

It was in December 1954 that Dr Murray successfully transplanted a kidney between identical twins for the first time.

His work paved the way for tens of thousands of other successful human organ transplants.

Dr Murray died at the same Boston Hospital where he had performed the ground-breaking surgery.

He had learned his craft during World War II, treating badly burned soldiers.

By performing skin grafts on troops, he realised the biggest obstacle in the procedure was the immune system's rejection of foreign tissue.

Deeply religious

Working at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, he and colleagues managed to successfully transplant kidneys on dogs.

In 1954, using the new surgical techniques, he took the healthy kidney of 23-year-old Ronald Herrick and transplanted it into his identical twin, Richard, who had kidney failure. Richard lived another eight years.

In 1962, with the arrival of drugs to suppress the immune response, he completed the first successful organ transplant from an unrelated donor.

Dr Murray shared the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Dr E Donnall Thomas, a pioneer in bone marrow transplants.

Dr Murray was a deeply religious man. He told the Harvard University Gazette in 2001: "Work is a prayer. And I start off every morning dedicating it to our Creator."

He passed away on Monday at the facility - now called Brigham and Women's Hospital - where he made medical history.

He had suffered a stroke on Thursday night at his suburban Boston home, hospital spokesman Tom Langford told the Associated Press.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20506475