Harry Voortman may not have shaken up the snack food world – but he did make a lot of people stand up and take notice.

On Nov. 24, 2003, Voortman announced that his Burlington, Ont., factory would become the first in North America to produce cookies without trans fatty acids.

They are a type of fat formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats such as shortening and hard margarine in a process called "partial hydrogenation." Trans fat is popular among commercial food makers because it's cheaper to use than other fats and prolongs the shelf life of products.

But trans fat, like saturated fat, has been shown to raise serum LDL-cholesterol levels, which is a risk factor for coronary heart disease. It's a bad fat – a gram of trans fat is said to be 10 times harder on your system than saturated fat (another bad fat).

Voortman says his daughter – a naturopathic doctor – had been trying to persuade him for years to drop trans fats for a healthier alternative. He says it's the right thing to do, even though the cookies will be more expensive.

"Trans fat is not a natural phenomenon," Voortman told CBC News. "Trans fats can be removed. We're the first on the market to do it."

Since Voortman's announcement, other food manufacturers have promised to either go trans fat-free or to reduce the levels of trans fats. But for some, the pace has been too slow.

A California group is suing McDonald's restaurants after it failed to act on a promise to reduce the levels of trans fats in its fast food. The group had also filed a suit against Kraft for selling trans fat-laden Oreo cookies to children – but withdrew that suit late in 2003 after Kraft announced it would cut the fat.

The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada has also been active in the campaign to rid the Canadian diet of trans fat.

The foundation notes that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Canada, killing 78,942 people in 1999. It argues many of those deaths are preventable.

There are several risk factors that come into play when determining your overall risk of heart disease or stroke. Some of them are beyond your control – age, gender, family history and ethnicity.

There are others you can control including:

• Smoking.
• Physical inactivity.
• High blood pressure.
• High blood cholesterol.
• Obesity.
• Diabetes.

Diet plays a major role in several of the above risk factors. Many Canadians are taking in far more calories than they need to. And a growing proportion of those calories are derived from fat.

According to the latest figures from Statistics Canada, Canadians are eating substantially less red meat than they did a decade ago. The level of fat consumed through red meat, poultry and fish has dropped from 25 per cent in 1992 to 21 per cent in 2002. It's mainly because of a decline in beef consumption.

That's the good news. The bad news is we've increased our overall fat intake by 25 per cent over the same period. Statistics Canada says the increase is due mainly to the growing use of salad and shortening oils in salad dressings, deep-fried products and commercially prepared cookies, pastries, specialty breads and croissants.

Those highly processed products are loaded with trans fats. And Canadians are eating too many of them. Health Canada recommends that 20-35 per cent of the calories you consume come from fat. For the average woman on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet, that works out to 45-75 grams of fat. For the average man on a 2,500 calorie-a-day diet, it works out to between 60 and 105 grams of fat.

Canadians consume an average of 10 grams of trans fat a day – or about the equivalent of a medium order of Burger King french fries and a Cinnabon cinnamon roll. Every day.

But no one's suggesting you should reduce trans fat intake to zero. According to experts, eliminating trans fat completely from the diet could cause an inadequate intake of some nutrients and create health risks. To get to zero trans fats, you would have to drop too many food groups.

Health Canada says new food labels will go a long way toward helping Canadians reduce the amount of trans fat in their diets. The Canadian food industry will have to adhere to the food labelling requirements by the end of 2005. The labels will have to list trans fat content. Many companies have already complied.

Health Canada suggests the labels could save the health-care system $5.3 billion over the next 20. That includes the costs of treating certain cancers, diabetes, coronary heart disease and stroke, as well as the broader economic cost associated with loss of productivity.

Denmark decided labels and voluntary cuts were not enough to do the job of reducing consumption of trans fats. It became the first country to place strict limits on trans fats in processed foods. The law limits trans fats to between two and five grams per 100 grams of oil.

Food and Consumer Products Canada – the organization that represents Canada's commercial food processors – says Health Canada's labelling requirements address the issue adequately. The organization says many companies have already reduced levels of trans fats in their products – or have announced plans to do so.

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