Trans fats cause more problems for McDonalds...

Trans fats are formed when liquid vegetable oils go through a chemical process called hydrogenation. Common in a range of food products — biscuits, chips, doughnuts, crackers — the hydrogenated vegetable fat is used by food processors because it is solid at room temperature and has a longer shelf life.

The Harvard School of Public Health think that 30,000 or more premature heart disease deaths are caused each year by trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils in food supplies.

In September 2002, McDonald's issued a statement announcing a significant reduction of trans fats in its fried menu items — french fries, chicken McNuggets, Filet-O-Fish, Hash Browns and crispy chicken sandwiches — with the introduction of improved cooking oil in all of its 13,000 restaurants.

The change was supposed to be completed by February 2003. However, McDonald’s encountered operational issues and the oil was not changed.

An anti-trans fat group claims that McDonald's deliberately allowed the public to be misled.

"Based on a document that we have received, McDonald's has spent a grand total of $457.50 to get the word out to the public that it has not changed the oil. Meanwhile, it has been reaping millions of dollars in additional profits from customers who believe that they are getting the new healthier oil."

Legal action has forced McDonald’s to give effective notice to the public that the oil was not changed. In fact, McDonald’s is required to spend up to $1.5 million on publishing notices to ensure that the public knows the status of its trans fat initiative. If the cost of publishing the notices is less than $1.5 million, the difference will be donated to the American Heart Association. McDonald’s will also donate $7 million to the American Heart Association.

In Europe and the US, food makers are under growing pressure from consumer groups to cut the trans fat content in food products.

Last year Denmark became the first country in the world to ban trans fats from food products over fears these hydrogenated fats could contribute to heart disease.

While the European Union has yet to reach a position on the labelling of trans fats, changes are likely as consumer bodies keep up the pressure for tougher labelling and call on the industry to use alternatives.

In the US, incoming rules mean that by 2006 food manufacturers will have to label the trans fat content.

Bruce Holub, a professor of nutritional sciences at Canada's University of Guelph, thinks that ingesting a daily gram of trans fat over several years is enough to significantly boost your risk of heart disease. Professor Holub points out that as few as two crackers can contain an entire gram of TFA.

Kraft foods said earlier this year that it had launched a trans fat free version of its iconic Oreo biscuit. The move follows a court case against Kraft’s owner Nabisco – which attracted massive media attention in the US - whereby the firm was asked to remove the biscuits from sale because of the harm trans fats could cause to children.

The case was later withdrawn because the lawyer who filed the suit said the publicity surrounding the case accomplished what he set out to do - create awareness about the dangers of trans fats.

However not all scientists agree about the potential dangers of trans fats. Dr. Rudolph Riemersma from Edinburgh, UK, points out that some studies have found a link between trans fats and heart disease while others have not.

He is particularly critical of 'prospective' studies, which he says do not prove that a particular food is to blame and that there may be other common reasons which account for the poor health of study subjects.

Riemersma also points out that banning trans fats may force manufacturers to process fats in other ways that may be even more harmful. Professor Antii Aro from Helsinki, did not find a clear link between trans fats and heart disease in his study. While he believes that trans fats are harmful, he thinks that saturated fats are a much greater concern.

Professor Daan Kromhout from the Netherlands points out that there is no reason to have trans fats in the diet. He also draws attention to major flaws in studies that found no adverse health effects related to trans fats, and concludes that taking all the evidence into account, the link between trans fats and cardiac deaths is one of the most consistent in nutritional epidemiology.

A 2002 report from a National Academy of Sciences panel attempted to set a safe intake level for trans-fatty acids. The report confirmed previous findings about the relationship of trans-fatty acids and the risk of heart disease, and concluded with this recommendation: "The only safe intake of trans-fat is zero."