Is reformulation to reduce trans fats in processed foods increasing the amount saturated fat in the diet? No.

That’s the question asked and answered by Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, joined by Michael F. Jacobson, PhD, and Julie S. Greenstein, MHS, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Washington, DC. They looked at 58 supermarket foods and 25 restaurant foods, all reformulated to eliminate trans fats.


“According to our analysis, major brand-name reformulations generally reduced the trans fat content substantially without making equivalent increases in saturated fat,” the researchers reported in a letter to the editor published in the May 27, 2010, issue of theNew England Journal of Medicine. The restaurant foods showed the same outcomes.

“Our results indicate that there is some room for improvement in some reformulation strategies, especially for some supermarket foods,” they wrote. “Our findings do not support concerns that voluntary or mandatory reductions in trans fat from partially hydrogenated oils would lead to broad increases in the saturated fat content of US foods.”

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