This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Trans-fatty acid levels decreased in whites after FDA regulation
Vesper HW. JAMA. 2012;doi:10.1001/jama.2012.112.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Levels of four trans-fatty acids decreased by more than half in whites from 2000 to 2009, according to data culled from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Researchers from several sites in the United States aimed to evaluate the effect on changes in FDA regulations in 2003 that required information on trans-fatty acids to appear on the nutrition label of food and dietary supplements. They evaluated NHANES data from 2000 and 2009 to estimate whether trans-fatty acid blood levels were reduced by the FDA initiative.
The 229 eligible participants were white, aged at least 20 years and had a morning fasting blood sample taken in 2000 and 2009. The four trans-fatty acids evaluated in the analysis included elaidic acid (C18:1n-9t), vaccenic acid (C18:1n-7t), linoelaidic acid (C18:2n-6t,9t) and palmitelaidic acid (C16:1n-7t).
All samples demonstrated detectable trans-fatty acids.
Vaccenic acid levels decreased 56% from 2000 to 2009, and elaidic, palmitelaidic and linoelaidic acid decreased in a similar fashion, according to the results.
Further analysis results indicated that from 2000 to 2009, the weighted geometric mean of the difference for the sum of all four acids was 54.1 mcmol/L (95% CI, 43.4-64.7 mcmol/L), a decrease of 58%.
“The 58% decline shows substantial progress that would help lower the risk for CVD in adults,” Christopher Portier, PhD, director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, said in a press release. “Findings from the CDC study demonstrate the effectiveness of these efforts in reducing blood trans-fatty acids and highlight that further reductions in the levels of trans fats must remain an important public health goal.”
Samples from 2009 also contained lower LDL cholesterol levels than those from 2000, 119.2 mg/dL (3.09 mmol/L) vs. 128.2 mg/dL (3.32 mmol/L).
“This study is, to our knowledge, the first time information on [trans-fatty acids] in white adults in the US population has been examined,” the researchers wrote. “This may lead to a decrease in risk for CVD in this subpopulation. These findings provide preliminary data on white adults only and cannot be generalized to other racial/ethnic and age groups.”
 |
Follow CardiologyToday.com on Twitter. |