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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031208.wtrans1208/BNStory

 

 

Trans fats almost everywhere, tests find

 

 

By ANDRý PICARD

From Monday's Globe and Mail

 

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Trans fatty acids, a man-made oil described by a leading nutritional scientist

as a " secret killer, " are present in significant quantities in fast foods and

other restaurant fare, according to tests commissioned by The Globe and Mail and

CTV News.

 

" There is a broad spectrum of restaurant food which is quite high in trans, "

said Bruce Holub, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of

Guelph, and a leading expert in the field.

 

" It's hard to avoid trans " if you're eating outside the home, he said.

 

Yet, Canadians spend more than one-third of their food dollars — more than

$42-billion annually — eating in restaurants and buying take-out food.

 

In the process, they have become the largest consumers of trans fats in the

world — a product that has been linked to a greatly increased risk of heart

disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

 

An analysis conducted by an independent laboratory found trans fats in every

single restaurant product tested.

 

The products included chicken nuggets, battered fish, spring rolls, Danish

pastries and even foods thought of as healthy fast-food alternatives such as

pizza.

 

According to the tests:

 

Five small chicken nuggets from Kentucky Fried Chicken contained almost four

grams of trans fats;

A Tim Hortons apple Danish contained almost three grams;

Two spring rolls purchased at Ontario's Chinese food chain Ho-Lee-Chow had

almost two grams of trans;

A single piece of fish from an order of fish and chips at restaurant chain

Casey's Bar and Grill contained more than one gram;

A slice of double-cheese pizza from Pizza Pizza had almost half a gram of

trans.

 

The Centre for Science in the Public Interest has done similar testing on fast

foods, and came up with equally alarming results. The centre found, for example,

that:

 

A large order of Burger King fries contains six grams of trans fats, compared

with four grams for Wendy's;

A & W onion rings also contain six grams of trans;

A Tim Hortons sour cream glazed doughnut clocks in at five grams of trans,

while the Krispy Kreme counterpart has just over four grams;

An order of Burger King hash browns has a whopping eight grams of trans;

A chicken pot pie at Swiss Chalet serves up five grams of trans;

An original cinnamon bun from the Saint Cinnamon chain of bakeries and mall

locations, contains four grams of trans.

An Admiral's Feast — a platter of fried shrimp, scallops, clams and fish — at

Red Lobster contains a heart-stopping 22 grams of trans fats.

 

According to research, ingesting just one gram of trans daily — the equivalent

of one chicken nugget or two slices of pizza — increases a person's risk of

heart disease by about 20 per cent. Yet, Canadians ingest, on average, more than

10 grams of trans fats daily.

 

Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at Harvard University

and author of some of the most damning studies, has said that as many as 33,000

deaths each year in North America can be linked to trans fats. He has dubbed

trans fats a " silent killer " that should be removed from all foods.

 

Trans fats are created by bubbling hydrogen gas through vegetable oil at high

temperatures. When liquid oils are partly hydrogenated, their molecular

structure is altered and they become more solid, more stable and less greasy

tasting. Most restaurants, from greasy spoons to high-end restaurants, use a

pourable shortening that is 20- to 30-per-cent trans fats.

 

While consumers can read labels to determine whether store-bought foods contain

trans — and new labelling laws will make trans content far more explicit by 2006

— there is no way of doing so easily in restaurants. (Even companies such as

McDonald's that provide extensive nutritional information on their websites,

still do not reveal the trans fats content of their menu items.)

 

" You need nutritional information at the point of purchase, whether it's a

supermarket or a restaurant, " said Rosie Schwartz, a consulting dietician with

the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and author of The Enlightened Eater's

Whole Foods Guide.

 

" When you're buying that bargain double burger, fries and shake, you don't only

need to know the price, you need to know the cost in terms of health as well, "

she said.

 

There are, in fact, moves afoot to make rudimentary labelling mandatory on

restaurant menus and fast-food menu boards, but they are being fiercely resisted

by the industry.

 

The good news for consumers is that individual restaurants and chains are

responding to growing consumer concern over trans fats.

 

Paul Methot, vice-president of distribution-commissary at Pizza Pizza, the

country's largest pizza maker, said the chain is intent on getting the trans

fats out of their products as soon as possible, even though the trans content

pales in comparison to other fast-food outlets. Last month, Ruby Tuesday, a

650-restaurant chain in the United States, said it is becoming trans-free. From

now on, its fried foods will be prepared in canola oil rather than shortening.

 

McDonald's also made a big splash on the issue, announcing in September of 2002

that it would reduce the trans fats in its fries by half by February, 2003. One

lobby group, BanTransFats.com, alleges that since then, the fast-food giant

seems to have quietly backed away from the promise.

 

The group, made famous for suing Kraft over the trans in its Oreo cookies (an

action that prompted the reformulation of the iconic kids' snack), has filed a

lawsuit. " I don't think most people realize that McDonald's has not followed

through on its promise, " said Stephen Joseph, the CEO and founder of BTF.

 

He is suing to force McDonald's to bring down trans levels, something it has

already done in Europe. " There is absolutely no excuse to have more trans in

America than in Europe, " Mr. Joseph said.

 

He predicted that if the litigation is successful " it's going to be a very, very

big deal . . . trans fats will effectively disappear from restaurants. "

 

In the meantime, however, trans fats are omnipresent, and they will likely

remain so until consumers take a stand.

 

" Parents, in particular, have to take a stand, " Ms. Schwartz said. " They can't

abdicate their responsibility to help kids, forming healthy eating habits and

minimizing consumption of trans fats, at home and outside the home. It's an

important part of that educational process. "

 

With reports from Avis Favaro, CTV News medical reporter, and Jenny Wells, a CTV

producer

 

Tomorrow: Should labelling for trans fats be mandatory on restaurant menus?

 

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