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Margarine

Warning To Be Put On Anti-Cholesterol Spread

Otago Daily Times, Dunedin, New Zealand, Wednesday 6 June 2001.

Wellington: Margarines containing ingredients touted as reducing cholesterol must carry an advisory message warning some people against consuming them, health authorities have decided.

The Food Standards Ministerial Council of Australia and New Zealand last week approved vegetable oil-derived plant sterol esters as a food ingredient in margarines but said other foods containing them would be banned.

Products containing the ingredient are marketed as margarines and spreads on both sides of the Tasman as a simple and natural way to lower blood cholesterol levels.

The council accepted the advice of the Australia New Zealand Food Authority (Anzfa) that the sterol esters should be allowed in margarines.

However, the products must carry an advisory warning that they may not be appropriate for infants, children, pregnant or breast-feeding women and that people on cholesterol-reducing medication should seek medical advice before using them, Anzfa said in a statement.

The food lines being targeted are those containing a natural plant ingredient known as phytosterol esters.

Anzfa told the Australian Parliament it was concerned consumption of large quantities of phytosterol esters could reduce the body's levels of substances known as carotenoids and antioxidants.

Deficiencies in such substances were linked to increased risks of some cancers, especially in babies, children, and pregnant or breast-feeding women, Anzfa warned.

While there was enough evidence the quantity consumed through margarines was safe, no such evidence about higher intakes that could come through a broader range of foods had been supplied by manufacturers, Anzfa said.

In New Zealand, Goodman Fielder's anti-cholesterol margarine is sold as Logicol by Meadow-Lea Foods.

Goodman Fielder chief operating officer Doug McKay welcomed the decision on margarines.

He said the company would not market any other products with sterol after the June 16 cut-off until its own studies were completed and it had won Anzfa approval.

"Goodman Fielder has initiated independent scientific and clinical research on using plant sterols in a range of foods to show they are safe and effective," he said in a statement. - NZPA/AAP

http://www1.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/getitem?date=06Jun2001&object=0601358499&type=html

Wednesday, 6-June 2001

The following articles related to this issue were also published in the Melbourne Age:

Ban on `heart' food line urged

The Age, 01 Jun 2001

Federal and state health ministers will today consider a recommendation to ban a popular range of cholesterol-reducing foods on the grounds they could increase the risk of cancer. The most prominent of these is the Logicol brand marketed by Goodman Fielder, which includes flavored yoghurts, may....

Cholesterol beaters off shelves, The Age 02 Jun 2001

A range of cholesterol-reducing foods, including most of the popular Logicol brand, will be removed from sale on safety grounds, government health ministers agreed yesterday. The products available include flavored yoghurts, mayonnaise, milk, breakfast bars and margarine, containing substances....

Estrogenic Activity of Vegetable Oils

From “Science” Vol 23 June 1960

A N Booth, E M Biekoff et al U.S Department of Agriculture

Excerpts:

“Vegetable oils are capable of eliciting an estrogenic response in test animals. We have found that a number of commonly used vegetable oils are capable of producing estrogen-like responses in mice.”

“For oral administration, the oils were mixed into the base feed mixture at levels equivalent to 10% or 20% of the diet. At the 10% level, 1 gram was consumed per mouse during the assay period.”

“Control mice fed no oil had a uterine weight of 9.5 gr and some oils at the 10% level produced uterine weights of more than double this value.”

Table 1: Mouse uterine weight response to various oils administrated orally. The oils were fed at the 10-percent level unless otherwise indicated.

Table 3: Mouse uterine weight response to cereal fractions fed at the 10-percent level.