TUESDAY, Sept. 3, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- McDonald's announcement that it will switch to a heart-healthier oil for its french fries and other fried foods gets some grudging compliments from health experts.
"A step in the right direction," says Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a spokesman for the American Heart Association.
But in the next breath, Eckel, who is also a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is talking about other changes he thinks are needed.
"I'd like to see other choices for people eating these fatty foods," he says. "I'd like to see smaller portion sizes and more fruits and vegetables in the overall diet."
Changing the oil doesn't lower the calorie content of a McDonald's meal, Eckel points out. A serving of small fries has 210 calories, a super-size order has 610 calories, he says -- big numbers for a society in which obesity has become a major health issue.
A super-size meal has enough calories for two, Eckel adds.
The fast-food giant announced that, starting Oct. 1, it will use a different oil formulation, developed with Cargill, Inc., to reduce the levels of trans fatty acids in its fried menu items, which will mean a 48 percent reduction for its french fries. The new oil will also reduce saturated fat content by 16 percent and increase polyunsaturated fat by 167 percent, the company says.
The oil will be used for other fried menu items, such as Chicken McNuggets and Filet-o-Fish.
The change is important because "clearly a reduction in trans fatty acids tends to be associated with a reduction in heart disease," Eckel says. Trans fatty acids raise blood levels of the "bad" cholesterol that eventually can block arteries, while polyunsaturated fatty acids don't, he explains.
The American Heart Association recommends that no more than 10 percent of total calories come from trans fatty acids and/or saturated fatty acids.
McDonald's says it will have the new oil in all of its 13,000 restaurants by next February. The company president, Mike Roberts, says in a statement that the change will preserve "the same great taste" of the company's french fries.
JoAnn Hattner, a clinical nutritionist at Stanford University and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, say the fast-food giant is "responding to public pressure.
"Trans fatty acids have been getting a lot of attention in the media. They're trying to respond to media outrage and parents who are upset that the fast food chains continue to feed their children foods that are not healthy," she says.
Hattner also has some muted praise for McDonald's.
"If you can make french fries healthier, good," she says. "But while potatoes are a healthy food, a french fry is not a healthy food. A healthy french fry is an oxymoron."
Hattner says she'd like to see even more attention paid to trans fatty acids, specifically on the standard nutritional labeling for food.
"There has been a big effort to get trans fatty acids listed on nutrition labels," she says. "The only way you can know now is by subtraction, subtracting hydrogenated fats from total fats."
McDonald's says it will continue working to reduce the trans fatty acid content of its frying oil.
"We'll hold them to their goals," Hattner says. "We would like to see them reduced totally."
An American Heart Association statement urges that other fast-food chains make the same change in oil composition.
Burger King and Wendy's, two of McDonald's major competitors, did not return calls requesting information about their frying plans.
What To Do
Learn more about fats, good and bad, from the American Heart Association. For more on trans fatty acids, visit the Institute of Food Science and Technology.
