Trans Fat Press Conference

Good morning everyone! Thank you for coming here today. I'd like to thank Dr. Mark McClellan of the FDA for being here and all the hard work he and his staff continue to do for the benefit of American consumers.

We're on a mission at HHS. As you know, since the day I started as Secretary, I put improving America's health and preventing disease at the top of our agenda at this Department. We've taken many aggressive steps to encourage a healthier US -- including steps to encourage more physical activity, more screenings for disease, and more nutritional diets. We've even pushed to incorporate our prevention priorities into the Medicare modernization bill.

The bottom line in America is that we're gaining weight and losing life - particularly our quality of life. We need to lose weight and gain life.

Today, we're taking another bold step toward helping Americans lead healthier lives and make choices that help them lose weight and gain a higher quality of life.

Our department, through the Food and Drug Administration, is issuing a final rule today requiring that all food labels include levels of trans fat - a type of fatty acid that is unhealthy. Currently, nutrition labels include saturated fat, which is another type of unhealthy fat, but we believe it is important to inform consumers of trans fat as well.

By putting this data on food labels, we are arming American consumers with even more information to make healthy choices about the foods they eat.

Trans fat is bad fat. The less trans fat people eat, the healthier they will be.

Trans fat is often found in foods such as vegetable oil, snack foods, cookies, fried foods, some margarines and other processed foods. So you can already see the correlation between trans fat and poor health, since these are all foods nutritionists have long encouraged Americans to eat less of.

The nutrition labels on food provide valuable information. It's important to eat enough vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber and to limit refined sugars and some fats. And remember that not all fats are equal: there are good and bad fats. Mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats, such as fish oil and olive oil, are healthy for you whereas saturated fat and trans fat are unhealthy.

What we choose to eat - including the levels of trans fat, saturated fat and cholesterol - has a direct bearing on our health and vitality. It is a serious health issue that Americans can no longer afford to ignore.

Trans fat contributes to heart disease. And heart disease is the No. 1 killer of both men and women in America. In 2002, heart disease had a negative economic impact of $214 billion - including $115 billion in direct medical costs.

Bad fats like trans and saturated fats contribute heavily to obesity as well. This is one of America's fastest-growing diseases, including among our children. Each year, 300,000 Americans die from diseases associated with obesity and overweight. The economic impact of obesity is $117 billion.

And being overweight and obese can lead to other diseases like diabetes, which inflicts 17 million Americans and kills 200,000 each year. The estimated cost of diabetes in 2002 was $132 billion.

What's most frustrating about all these diseases is that they are readily preventable. We need to get America focused on preventing disease by eating less and exercising more.

Today's initiative won't prevent heart disease on its own. But it will empower Americans with more information so they can make smart decisions about what they eat.

We're going to continue efforts to provide consumers with information based on the best available science so they can make good decisions. Tomorrow, we're going to be releasing a new initiative on nutritional health claims, again aimed at helping consumers get the best science-based information possible.

We need consumers to take this information to heart, literally. We at HHS -- with all our scientists and experts, along with the doctors and nutritionists throughout America -- can do research and advise and inform Americans about what it takes to be healthy. But ultimately, it comes down to the individual to act and make the right choices for his or her health.

We want Americans to take the information we're providing them on nutrition labels and make healthy choices. So they can live longer, healthier and happier.

With that, I would like to introduce Dr. Mark McClellan.

Last Revised: July 9, 2003