BITING into an Oreo is a different kind of exercise than tucking into a robust tofu stew or getting one's jaws around a crunchy spinach salad -- more pure indulgence than something you do with the body's daily requirement for selenium or roughage in mind.
But today the sinful treat is a tad less sinful. Spurred by government-mandated changes to food labels that went into effect Jan. 1, Oreo's maker, Kraft, has dropped an unhealthful fat -- trans fat -- from the cookie's ingredient list.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 02, 2006 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 75 words Type of Material: Correction
Trans fats -- A Jan. 23 Health section article on trans fats said Denmark had banned the sale of processed foods with more than 2% of calories derived from trans fats. The law is actually stricter, limiting the content of man-made trans fats to 2% or less of the oil or fat in a food. Thus, in a food deriving 10% of calories from fat, only 0.2% of total calories can come from trans fats.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Monday February 06, 2006 Home Edition Health Part F Page 9 Features Desk 1 inches; 80 words Type of Material: Correction
Trans fats -- A Jan. 23 Health section article on trans fats in foods said Denmark has banned the sale of processed foods with more than 2% of their calories derived from trans fats. The law is actually stricter, limiting the content of man-made trans fats to 2% or less of the oil or fat contained in a food. Thus, in a food deriving 10% of its calories from fat, only 0.2% of total calories could come from trans fats.
The Oreo, with its soft white center epitomizing trans-fat creaminess, was once a public target of anti-trans campaigners. But similar, subtle changes have been made in foods all over the grocery store -- in pies, spreads, cookies, chips, puddings and frozen entrees, all with reworked formulations allowing their labels to proudly declare they contain zero trans fats per serving.
Medical experts welcome the new inclusion of trans-fat content on food labels and the removal of this heart-unfriendly fat from many of our foods. But the transition is still in its early days, with potential stumbling blocks for manufacturers and consumers alike.
Food labels, even if they declare that a foodstuff contains no trans fats per serving, can actually contain small amounts of the fat. Under the new labeling regulations, any food with less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving can declare its contents as zero grams. (In contrast, the cut-off in Canada is set at 0.2 grams.)
Those "zeros" could easily mount up, especially if one's idea of a serving is four times that of the manufacturer's. " 'Zero' conveys something that for some products they know to be false," says Dr. Carlos Camargo, associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard Medical School. "If there's trans fats in the product, they should say 'less than 0.5,' or 'low,' or 'unable to measure,' or something -- but they shouldn't say 'zero.' "
Nutrition researchers still debate what the best, most heart-healthful trans fat substitutes are for foodstuffs such as pies and cookies that require fats to be hard at room temperature. Palm oil? Coconut oil? Stearic acid? The saturated fat found in animal fats?
"We all kind of dance around this because we just don't know what's a real good substitute right now," says Penny Kris-Etherton, distinguished professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University in University Park.
