Do the Labels Tell the Truth about Sodium?

Abstract

Replacing saturated fatty acids (SFAs) in the diet with unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) provided in part from vegetable oil spreads (“spreads”) has been shown to have significant public health benefits. However, the composition of spreads has been recently questioned due to their trans fatty acids (TFAs) content. Our objective was to assess the fat composition of US spreads to understand how they have evolved over time. We measured fat composition via capillary gas chromatography in 43 and 46 US spreads sampled respectively in 2011 and 2013. We compared our results to analytical data from 2002. From 2002 to 2013, as a percentage of fat, UFAs increased from 61.2% to 71.1% (p<0.01), while TFAs decreased from 19.2% (1.7 g per 14g serving) to 3.6% (0.3 g per 14g serving) (p<0.001). At the same time SFAs increased from 19.5% to 25.3% (percentage of fat), as a partial replacement for TFAs. At the end of 2013, 80% of the national volume of branded spreads no longer contained partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (PHVOs) and was free of industrial trans fat. Over the last decade, the fat quality of US spreads improved due to a marked reduction of trans fat and a limited replacement by saturated fat. Most modern spreads no longer contain PHVOs, have a fatty acid composition similar to vegetable oils and can be an important source of unsaturated fat in the diet. These products are recommended as a replacement for saturated fat as part of US dietary guidelines.