Reducing the trans fats in our food could prevent a half-million deaths from heart disease globally every year, says the World Health Organization. Trans fats are found in ordinary products such as margarine, cakes, icing, fried foods, salad dressings, commercially-prepared popcorn and much more. In many countries, consumers eat high levels of trans fats without being aware of the risk of heart disease.
Regulations to reduce trans fats already exist in many countries. The U.S. FDA now forbids food manufacturers from adding partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), a major source of trans fats, to their products, effective from mid-June 2018. Similarly, the World Health Organization has launched a program encouraging governments to adopt programs to limit PHOs and reduce trans fats globally. Europe is also considering new limits.
Trans fats are formed when manufacturers use a partial hydrogenation process to give margarines the correct melting properties and shelf-stability. Fortunately, they can achieve all these same qualities and avoid trans fats by using a different process, interesterification.
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