The British government has taken an important step towards a possible ban on trans fats by asking the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to take a position quickly.

By Dr. Thierry Schmitz

The FSA is being asked by the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, to advise on whether trans fatty acids should be restricted in the UK. A first meeting has just been held on October 29 at the FSA headquarters with representatives of the food industry and consumer groups.

Trans fatty acids (TFAs) are found naturally, but in small quantities, in dairy products and meat, but the vast majority are created by the food industry. Indeed, the process of hydrogenation of vegetable oils allows to increase the stability and the shelf life of the product by making it solid (example of margarine). Unfortunately, this hydrogenation transforms the chemical structure of oils into trans fatty acids.

Most trans fatty acids in the diet come from margarines and baked goods containing hydrogenated oils such as cookies, doughnuts, cakes, pastries, muffins and fried foods such as chips. In these products, there can be up to 45% trans fatty acids in the total fat. More than 4000 processed products contain trans fats. They can be detected simply by checking the list of ingredients on the package: if you read hydrogenated fatty acid, hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil, trans fat or shortening, you are dealing with trans fatty acids.

These trans fatty acids increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases by a very harmful action on cholesterol. The consumption of only one gram of trans fatty acids per day would increase the risk of cardiovascular disease by 20%, while a French adult consumes an average of 10 grams of trans fat per day and some teenagers 30 grams.

England may be the third country to restrict the consumption of trans fatty acids after Denmark and Canada, where a law prohibits the sale of foods containing more than 2% of artificially produced trans fat.