- "According to research, ingesting just one gram
of trans daily... 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."
-
- 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
-
- © 2003 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
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- http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031208.wtrans1208/BNStory
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