Trans-Fat Reduction - central america

Voluntary reduction of trans-fatty acids in Latin America and the
Caribbean: current situation
Authors
Rafael Monge Rojas, Uriyoán Colón Ramos, Enrique Jacoby & Dariush
Mozaffarian
Article Reference
Monge-Rojas, R, Colon-Ramos, U, Jacoby, E. Mozaffarian, D. Voluntary
reduction of trans-fatty acids in Latin America and the Caribbean: current
situation. Rev Panam Salud Pública. 2011; 29(2):126-9.
Revised by: Nadia Alvarado
Comments of the revisor:
The consumption of trans fatty acids in Latin America might be representative
and leads to cardiovascular diseases. In 2007 and 2008 the Pan-American
Health Organization and the World Health Organization initiated a strategy so
that the food industries voluntarily reduce the contents of trans fatty acids on
their foods by signing the initiative “Trans-fat-free Americans”. The
experiences related to the follow-up of these industries show communication
challenges to achieve a real monitoring and regulation of the content of trans
and saturated fats. The authors suggest, that in spite of the voluntarily
reduction by the companies, there should be a clear regulation and control
system established by the local governments about the importance of this
theme on public health.
Aim of the study
Follow the process of re-formulation and reduction of the trans-fat content of
the signing industries of the PAHO and WHO initiative “Trans-fat-free
Americans” to voluntarily reduce the trans fatty acids of food at 11 countries
of Latina America and the Caribbean.
Countries on which the study took place:
American Continent: 12 companies that produce food who signed the
declaration of the initiative “Trans-fat-free Americans” at Rio de Janeiro, on
June 2008.
Design and methodology:

From June to October 2009, the researchers designed a standarized
questionnaire which was sent to 12 companies who have adhere to the PAHO
and WHO`s initiative, the main issues were:
• Percentage and type of fats and oils used to replace the trans fats.
• Actual and past content of specific foods.
• Barriers found during the process of trans-fat elimination process.
At the same time, two of the researchers made independent searches on the
web pages of the companies about the declaration on the trans-fat content of
food they make.
Results
The companies answer the questionnaire:
Only 3 out of 12 companies answered the questionnaire completely, 3 of them
returned an abstract but without giving information about specific products, 1
company did not participated since it did not produced “fried or baked”
foods. 5 companies did not answer the questionnaire.
Percentage of trans-fat reduction
They compared the content of fat on fast food, sauces and dressings, sweets
and chocolates, sweet and salad cookies; the initial content which varied
form 28g of trans fat/100 grams of total fat to 0 grams, there was a reduction
between 0 to 100% depending on the product. The average reduction varied
from 1.1 to 5.9 grams per portion to 0.2-0.6 g per portion.
Type of fat and oils used to replace the trans fats
The fats used to replace the trans fats are oil mixtures, which depend on the
regional availability and the specific mixture of each company: McDonald`s
uses in Brazil a mixture of cotton, palm and soybean oils; in South America
they use soyflower with high contents of oleic acid and in Central America and
the Caribbean they use sunflower, canola, soybean and corn oil.
Cargill uses oils with high content of oleic acid in Mexico and Canada and an
oil with high content of linoleic acid in Venezuela.
Besides, PepsiCo, Nestlè and ABIA report the use of fat mixtures of cacao and
palm, corn oil and sunflower with high content of oleic acid. PepsiCo uses
corn oil to replace trans fats in 56% of its products, sunflower oil with medium
content of oleic acid on 25% of their products and a mixture of corn and
soyflower oils low on linoleic acid for 19% of their products. Finally, they use
palm oil to replace 100% of trans fat in sweet and salty cookies.
It is important to point out that the reports of the 2 companies mentioned
that their products are free of trans fat since 2007-2008, but they don`t
specify the specific actions in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Obstacles found during the process of elimination of trans fat
The companies report that the experimented barriers on this process are:
• The identification and availability of a fat succedaneous of fat or oil
that is adequate for their food products.
• Cost of these substitutes

• Worries about the sensorial acceptance of the products modified by the
consumers (for example; in cookies, the mouth sensation given by the
“solid fats”).