Foods that are higher in fat but maintain a low content of refined sugar are now a healthy option. But before 2006, such a recommendation would have had serious unintended consequences. Processed foods contained high levels of trans fat, a synthetic substance with many negative effects on human health.

The use of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils was promoted as a healthy alternative to saturated fats, long condemned as “artery clogging” and one of the worst food components you could eat. The last 15 years of nutrition research has revealed that saturated fats actually have little or no effect on risk of heart disease, and are a normal part of the human diet.

A this years IFT Annual Meeting and Food Expo in New Orleans, Loders Croklaan organized a session entitled A New Paradigm of Saturated Fats on Tuesday, July 1, 2008 from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. This all important subject and its implications on nutrition will include widely respected key influencers who include:

• Gary Taubes, Author of Good Calories, Bad Calories
• Dr. Eric Westman - Duke University
• David M Klurfeld - USDA

The panelists will review recent and earlier dietary fat research and discuss whether our current thinking on saturated fats needs to be modified.