Summary: Are your favorite fried and junk foods about to change? And for the better?Recent headlines reveal the FDA's latest health tactic: the agency will require the food industry to gradually phase out all trans fats, because they consider them to be a threat to health and wellness. Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the move could prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and 7,000 deaths. Trans fats have been a big part of the American diet for many years. These dangerous fats exist in baked goods, fried foods and even cookies and snacks targeted to children. A movement to decrease trans fats in foods has been slowly growing. But because of the health risks associated with trans fats, the Food and Drug Administration is finally getting rid of the ones that still hang on. Artificial trans fats are a threat to public health, the FDA announced, and it will require the food industry to phase them out once and for all. Dr. Felicia Stoler, PhD,and Melanie Cole, MS, discuss what this new ban means for you and your family, as well as if it can truly make you healthier in the long run.
