Jennifer Huget in the Washington Post (2/19) Check Up blog reports, “Reporting in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers from four universities working with the American Heart Association found that while 92 percent of 1,000 respondents questioned in 2007 were aware of trans fats as a substance that may contribute to cardiovascular disease, only 17 percent could name three foods that contain the bad fats.” The researchers “note that when they asked about trans fats in 2006 – a few months after the FDA started requiring manufacturers to list trans fats as a separate item on the Nutrition Facts panel – 84 percent of respondents were aware of them. They give some credit for the uptick in knowledge to increased news coverage and public-awareness campaigns, pointing out that the number of media stories they counted about trans fats doubled in a year (from 516 in May 2006 to 1,138 in May 2007).”
