Newsgroup: it.salute.alimentazione
Titolo: [FAST FOOD] Grassi idrogenati e patatine

"Report: McDonald's admits to fattier fries", CNN Money, February 8,
2006, 
http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/08/news/companies/mcdonalds_fat_fries/
 
McDonald's french fries contain one third more trans fat than
previously reported, according to a published report. 
The Financial Times said that McDonald's revealed a new reading on
the level of the potentially harmful substance under new U.S.
government rules on food labels to specify the level of the trans fat
in food products. 
The newspaper reports that the company is now reporting that a larger
order of its french fries have eight grams of trans fats, rather than
the previously-reported six grams. 
"It makes it harder to trust McDonald's if they suddenly have
strikingly different (trans fat) numbers," Michael Jackson, the
executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest,
told the Times. 
Cathy Kapica, the company's global direction of nutrition, told the
newspaper that the new reading is because the company is continually
improving its testing methods. 
"We promptly updated the information on our Web site. We will
continue to provide our customers with the most current, accurate
nutrition information possible," she said. 
There is no "recommended" safe level of trans fat. The independent
Institute of Medicine sent a letter to the FDA during its rule making
on trans fat in which it "recommend(s) that trans fatty acid
consumption be as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally
adequate diet." 
Trans fats are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil in an
effort to extend the shelf-life of products such as cooking oils. The
Food and Drug Administration says trans fats can cause a rise in
so-called "bad cholesterol" and increase the risk of heart attacks.
It estimates that its new rules on labeling will encourage Americans
to reduce their intake of trans fats and help prevent 600 to 1,200
heart attacks annually within three years. 
The six grams of trans fats previously reported by McDonald's was
already slightly above the FDA's estimates for the average daily
intake of trans fats in the average adult American's diet. 
The company has been under scrutiny for its use of trans fats, and in
2002 promised to cut by half the trans fats in its french fries. 
But in 2004 a public interest group, BanTransFats.com, sued
McDonald's, saying it had broken that promise. McDonald's settled
that suit a year ago, agreeing to spend $1.5 million notifying
customers that it had not changed its oil to one lower in trans fats,
and agreeing to donate $7 million to the American Heart Association
for education on the danger of trans fats, in addition to agreeing to
pay plaintiffs' attorney fees. 
McDonald's french fries are among its products highest in trans fats.
The only products on its Web site listed as having more than eight
grams of trans fats are its deluxe breakfast with 11 grams and the
10-piece chicken select strips, which has nine grams. By comparison,
its signature Big Mac hamburger has 1.5 grams of trans fats,
according to its Web site.

Sono andato da McDonald solo un paio di volte nell'ultimo anno, e ho preso 
solo un'insalata e uno yoghurt una volta, e un'insalata e un po' di frutta 
l'altra volta... Sapevo, ed era logico pensarlo, che vi fossero elevati 
contenuti di acidi grassi trans, ma a questi livelli è da pazzi!!!