Were policies in Brazil effective to reducing trans fat from industrial origin in foods?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To determine the trans fatty acids content of processed foods frequently consumed by adults living in a Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the enactment of a mandatory trans fatty acids labelling policy.METHODS Between February 2014 and January 2015, a specifically dietary questionnaire was completed by 107 adults to assess the frequency of processed foods consumption. The most commonly consumed products from the survey, including vegetable oils, margarine, biscuits, snacks, cheese bread (pão de queijo), french fries, cheeseburger and ice cream, were then analyzed for their trans fatty acids content using gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector.RESULTS Differences in the levels of trans fatty acids were observed among 22 products analyzed, considering that trans fatty acids content ranged between 0.0 g/100 g in samples of cream cracker biscuit 1 and olive oil to 0.83 g/100 g in samples of cheeseburger (fast food), 0.51 g/100 g in samples of frozen pão de queijo and 12.92 g/100 g in samples of chocolate sandwich cookies with cream filling 2. The overall trans fatty acids content of the different samples of margarine brands was 0.20 g/100 g for brand 1 and 0.0 g/100 g for brand 2. These data are significantly lower than those observed in a survey conducted in 2003, when the regulation had been enacted.CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that Brazilian regulation is very likely implicated in the observed drop in trans fatty acids of the most processed foods but has yet to eliminate them, which reinforces the urgent need to revise the legislation, since a minimum amount of trans fat does not mean that the food product does not contain this type of fat.

Trans Fat Labeling Information on Brazilian Packaged Foods

“…Although the content of trans fats in Brazilian food products has been shown to be reduced after the implementation of legislation on food labeling [31] and voluntary reduction agreements in the food industry [32], more recent evidence on this topic is lacking in the country. A 2010 study of food labels of products available in a supermarket in Santa Catarina, located in the Southern region of the country, found trans fat terms in more than half of the products.…”

“…Another study, conducted during the period 2014–2015 in Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeastern region of Brazil, evaluated some of the most consumed processed foods, including vegetable oils, margarine, biscuits, snacks, and ice cream, and found a drop in trans fat content in those products compared with similar research made in 2003, prior to the regulation. However, this drop in trans fats has not been observed in all products, and one of the samples of biscuits presented values as high as 12.9 g per 100 g [31].…”

Marco referencial da gastronomia como cultura no estado do Rio de Janeiro: o “mise-en-place” para a gastronomia carioca está posto? Desdobramentos e perspectivas no âmbito da gastronomia e da cultura para o Rio de Janeiro

“…Temos um padrão básico do consumo alimentar no Brasil caracterizado pela presença do arroz, café, feijão, pão de sal e carne bovina, associados ao consumo regional de alguns poucos itens, além disso, observa-se uma tendência de substituir refeições tradicionais baseadas em alimentos in natura ou minimamente processados por alimentos ultraprocessados, principalmente nas áreas metropolitanas do país, como no caso do Rio de Janeiro, com impactos relevantes para a saúde (BARALDIL et al, 2015;LOUZADA et al, 2015;BEZERRA et al, 2017;DIAS et al, 2018).…”

Assessment of trans-fatty acid content in a sample of foods from the Slovenian food supply using a sales-weighting approach

“…Regular monitoring of the food supply is needed in order to evaluate the efficacy of those policies and to enable updated assessments of the TFA-related public health risks. The presence of TFA in food supply is therefore regularly monitored in different countries (16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) .…”