Reassessment of trans fatty acid availability in the US diet

This report updates our 1984 estimate of the amount of trans fatty acids available for consumption in the US diet, namely 7.6 g.person-1.d-1, for 1989. Compared with 1984 data, we found essentially no change in 1989 for the per capita availability of trans fatty acids from total food service fats and oils. The 1989 value we obtained for industrial fats and oils is somewhat higher than the value we reported for 1984, in part because more complete data were available for 1989. In contrast, however, since 1984 the per capita availability of trans fatty acids from household salad and cooking oils, household shortenings, and all margarines and spreads (retail, food service, and industrial) has decreased. Overall, our reassessed (1989) value for total trans fatty acid availability is 8.1 g.person-1.d-1, which is similar to our original estimate. This total may increase slightly (approximately 0.3 g.person-1.d-1) as a result of the recent switch by many establishments from the use of tallow to partially hydrogenated vegetable oils for frying.