Federal regulations allow food labels to say there are zero grams of trans fat as long as there’s less than a half-gram per serving, according to this AP story.

“The problem is that often people eat a lot more than one serving,” says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian of Harvard School of Public Health.

The American Heart Association recommends that people limit trans fats to 1% of total calories each day. That’s a little less than 2 grams for the average person. So, you don’t have to be a mathematical wizard to realize that it’s possible to exceed that value by eating several portions at one meal or during the course of a day.

Julie Moss of the FDA’s Office of Nutrition, Labeling and Dietary Supplements, explains that the half-gram threshold for labeling was adopted because it is difficult to measure trans fat at low levels. In fact, the same half-gram limit is used for listing saturated fat.

8/20/07 18:20 JR