Last Tuesday, the FDA announced a plan to stop food producers from including trans fats in their products. This process is to be complete by 2018. What exactly does this mean for the future of the typical college student and their diet?
It is no secret that college is the time where many people may not maintain the healthiest eating habits. Ramen Noodles, Easy Mac, and other foods that require little to no preparation are among the most popular options for students, especially those living in dorms or other student housing. Lucky for food producers, the FDA does not require the trans fats within a product to be included in the label unless there is more than 0.5 grams present. You can read more about this here. Lucky for students, most of the packaged food we consume falls into this category, so in this food group, the removal of trans fats will not do much to change our diet. However, the foods that are more of an indulgence to Americans all over are going to have to undergo a real change. Foods that have a long shelf life — think crackers, cookies, and other desserts — generally contain trans fat, which serves as a preservative. In the near future, food producers are going to have to find a substitute that serves the same purpose without sacrificing taste.
The FDA’s reasoning behind putting an end to trans fats is that they lead to the decrease of good cholesterol and the increase of bad cholesterol in our bodies, and they also lead to heart disease which is the number one killer of men and women and America. With less of these fats in our diets, the FDA hopes to improve the overall heart health of Americans…so should we start to send our thank you notes here now?
Although most of us will first think about the possible change to the quality of our food in the coming years, we should also think about the price of this change. The estimated costs to the food industry putting this into action is $6 million, but it will allegedly save around $140 billion over the next 20 years in health care and other costs. What about the direct costs coming out of our wallets? Good news! Because this is a move promoted by the idea of increasing the health of Americans, if, and hopefully when, producers begin to find good substitutes for trans fats, we will be eating healthier while still sticking to our budgets.
All we can do is hope for the best change in our foods. The optimal outcome of the end of trans fats in the American diet would be that we can all eat the same foods without noticing a change in them in any way, but we will all have to wait to see if our hopes for the food industry can be fulfilled.
