Trail-blazing scientist welcomes trans-fat ban

No one was more pleased by the Food and Drug Administration's decision Tuesday to eliminate artificial trans fats from the U.S. food supply than Fred Kummerow, a 100-year-old University of Illinois professor who has warned about the dangers of the artery-clogging substance for nearly six decades.

"Science won out," Kummerow, who sued the FDA in 2013 for not acting sooner, said from his home in Illinois. "It's very important that we don't have this in our diet."

In the 1950s, as a university researcher, Kummerow persuaded a local hospital to let him examine the arteries of people who had died from heart disease. He made a jarring discovery. The tissue contained high levels of artificial trans fat, a substance that had been discovered decades earlier but had become ubiquitous in processed foods throughout the country.

Later, he conducted a study showing that rats developed atherosclerosis after being fed artificial trans fats. When he removed the substance from their diets, the atherosclerosis disappeared from their arteries.

Kummerow first published his research warning about the dangers of artery-clogging trans fats in 1957.

Despite Kummerow's warnings over the years, artificial trans fats remained a staple of processed food for decades. The food industry was reluctant to do away with artificial trans fats, which were cheaper than their natural counterparts, extended shelf life, and gave foods desirable taste and texture.

"The industry was very much for trans fat," said Kummerow, saying that each time a group formed to study the issue over the years, it seemed to turn out the same way. "You had to have more research before you could come to a conclusion."

Frustrated by the lack of action, Kummerow filed a 3,000-word citizen petition with the FDA in 2009, citing the mounting body of evidence against trans fat. By that time, he certainly was not alone.

As for his own diet, Kummerow said he doesn't spend much time worrying about cholesterol, which he does not believe is a central culprit in heart disease (he even wrote a book on the topic). He drinks whole milk and eats eggs. But he does steer clear of fried foods, margarine, and anything associated with partially hydrogenated oils.

Kummerow recalled how, last fall, at his 100th birthday celebration, someone brought a ready-made cake to the party. When he studied the label, he quickly noticed that it contained trans fat.

"I threw it out," he joked. "There were a lot of other things to eat."