and ldl, lousy, bad cholesterol, below 100.en doctors would think about a statin. but under these new guidelines, things changed dramatically. someone that has diabetes, they'll be recommended to take a statin recommendation. if they have history of heart disease, get a statin medication. if their bad cholesterol is high, above 190, obviously they're going to be recommended a statin medication. then this. if your ten-year risk is over 7.5%, you will be recommended a statin medication. but the point is this -- if you do the math, you could double the number of people taking statin medications over the next couple of years. it's about 35 million taking it now. could go up to 70 million people. white it may reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes, is it going to make us live longer, as well? this may surprise you, but the answer to that question is not still clear. it's a lot to digest. i wanted to bring in dr. steven nissen. let me ask a couple of questions. i'm not a cardiologist, but is there a little bit of white flag wav

and low density protein, ldl, the lousy stuff. hdl is the cleanup crew. vessels and take them back to the liver to be processed. but sometimes there's too much ldl. >> you eat more of the common bad fats, it actually causes your liver to produce more bad cholesterol. >> but foods higher in fiber like oatmeal, they help reduce the levels of ldl in your body. so keep your cholesterol in check by eating smart. >> as you chase life, don't forget about exercise. you don't have to become a marathon runner. a brisk walk can do itment remember this, 30 minutes a day, five days a week. even get the same benefit if you split it up into ten-minute intervals. how intense? here's a good test for you. it's okay if you can still talk while you're exercising, but if you can sing, you're not pushing it hard enough. so get out there. the latest research says if americans would just exercise this much, we could cut the number of heart attacks and strokes by a third. educate, not medmedicate. i do want to give you a reminder of what is going on in the philippines. so many ar

we wanted cholesterol to be lower than 200, ldl to be less than 100 and hdl over 60. this is what the dr. siegel has been doing for the last -- she's very experienced. now they want him to change and think about the campaign for risk. what does that mean, if your ldl, the bad cholesterol, is over 190, you're automatically going to go on some of these medications. if you have a heart disease or a stroke or history of this, which is where the history of physical comes in, jamie, you go on it. if you're between 40 to 75 and you're at risk of diabetes, you're automatically going to go on it, and the biggest important part that we need to know is something called risk stratification, which mark was just talking about. what does that mean? if in ten years your risk of heart disease and stroke is more than 5%, there's going to be a co calculator. what goes in there, blood pressure, genetics, race, all of those will go into the calculator, and something will spit out saying this guy should be on statins. >> i want to ask about the side effects. we hear a lot of problems with

your ldl to be there and your good cholesterol below 60. now they want him to change. and think about the campaign for risk. what does that mean? if your ldl, the bad cholesterol, is over 190, you're automatically going to go on some of these medications. if you have a heart disease or stroke or history of this, which is where the history of physicals comes in, jamie. you'll be 45 to 75 and at risk for diabetes, you're automatically going to go on it. and the biggest, important part we need to know is something called risk stratification which mark was just talking about. what does that mean? your risk of heart attack or stroke, if it is more than 7.5%, there's going to be a calculator. what's in the calculator? general etics, race, all of them go into the normal gram and will spit out saying, this guy should be on statins. >> i want to ask you about the side effects because we hear a lot of problems about leg cramps and deterioration of your muscular tendons. >> it can also increase the risk of diabetes, but marc will tell you overall it's a safe medication. >> here's

low-density lipoprotein (ldl) is the "bad" cholesterol. it carries cholesterol to the cells-- including the cells that line the blood vessel walls. as the level of ldl rises, so does the risk of atherosclerosis. when it was first tested, it was up in the 600 range, and so with the cholesterol lowering medication, it was in half. it was in the 300s, so, to me, that was great. hodis: it's clear, if you come from a high-risk family, then you're at high rk yourself, as an offspring. there are certain disorder such as familial hyperchyolesterolemia, wherthere's a bad gene in the family and the families have very high cholesterols, 30400 milligrams r deciliter, whereas, if you' looking at something to compare that to, you'd say around 150 or less would be... you know, 130,20 would b really an adequate level. goldenetz: you know, our daughter's been tested, and our son, for cholesterol. our son's is okay. our daughter, who's a vegetarian, her cholesterol was over 300 at 20 years old. hodis: most people don't fall into that category of that extrem

was it 100, was it 90, was it 80, was it 70 for ldl? do you know what we found?ny sense. >> reporter: so rather than adjusting the statin dose to reach a certain cholesterol level, the panel now wants doctors to prescribe a moderate or high dose depending on the current cardiovascular disease. patients may benefit from statins if they have a history of heart attack or stroke, ldl or cholesterol of 190 or higher, the onset of diabetes between the ages of 40 and 75, or a ten-year risk of heart attack or stroke of at least 7.5%. to measure that risk, the panel created a calculator that measures other factors including ethnicity. for example, a 50-year-old white male with a total cholesterol of 220 and good cholesterol of 45 has a ten-year risk of cardiovascular disease of 50%. a statin may not be warranted. for an african-american, a group known to be at high risk with the exact same numbers is given a risk of almost 9%, a cnumber that affects it. >> everyone's different. they have risk factors that make treatment more beneficial or more difficult. to deal with that

statton reduces ldl and inflammation. our goals for prevention is getting the cholesterol down and ldl, especially if you are at high risk or have heart disease. this means the population needs to take the truck practically. >> unless lifestyle changes, people who decide and exercise, who get the risks under control. >> we are told it's not great to be on medication for a long time. sounds like this is different. >> it's, again, about the risk factors. if you have had heart disease, this is a life-long medication, there's no coming off of it. for those with risk factors, who can change their lifestyle through diet and exercise, they may be able to come off it. >> they are coming out with guidelines regarding high blood pressure. >> we are looking forward to the high blood pressure guidelines. >> with heart problems that people had and growing health problems that americans are having. >> cardio vascular des is the number one and three killers. if we don't look at the risk factors of heart disease and strek, we are not tak

meal she died and defense minister into naughty little bit of a map with their russian counterparts ldl of waltham so gay sugar here is a bit too close to top off with a new page will try to trade cooperation in security and the fast kids who will pursue further dialogue on specifics and exchanges will help stabilize the situation in east asia as well as to promote world peace. this tool close to making signals the start for new relationships between the two countries today's taking marks a crucial step for putting trust in the discussion between jet that much. and the new meds and i'm also in the two countries confirmed the closer relations would help resolve the range of the shoot. he cited problems on the korean nation on the grill this beach and to risk his exceed the two sides agreed to boost joint exercises between japan's maritimes self defense forces in the russian navy due to the details i agree to hold what level talks on the waist to come to this type of cox two ways. russian foreign us and invited the japanese to visit moscow next jack and to hold regular stick. a team from

we learned that dietary fat raise our ldl. let's call dietary fat a and ldl b, a led to b. we learned ldl levels of large appellations correlated with coronary -- large populations correlated with coronary disease. the logic was, if a leads to b c, get ridlates with of dietary fats, ldl will go down, and cardiovascular disease will go -- will reverse. is that what happened? not at all. if anything, it got worse. why did it get worse? for a couple reasons. this was the fight going on back in the 1970s. there was a huge nutritional war going on. it was actually quite nasty, a lot of name-calling. john yudkin, had british physiologist, nutritionists, and physician who said sugar was the bad guy back in 1972. he wrote this missive called "pure, white, and deadly." basically that i was parroting what he said 25-27 -- parodying what he said 25 years ago. here we have keys. he was the inventor of the k ration back in world war ii. he was sort of on the scene nutritionally. he was the one who said saturated fat was the bad guy. let's look at his data. this is his seven countries st

was it 100, 90 80 70 for ldl. you know what we found?a single number that made any sense. >> reporter: so rather than adjusting the statin dose to reach a certain cholesterol level. the doctors are now to prescribe either a medium or high dose. they should if they have a history of heart attack or stroke, ldl of 150 or higher the onset of diabetes between 45 and 75 or a ten-year risk of heart attack and stroke of 70%. for example, a 50-year-old white male with treated high blood pressure total cholesterol of 220 and good cholesterol of 45 has a 10 year risk of cardio cardiovascular disease of 5%. statin treatment may not be warded but for a man who's african american a group known to be at higher risk the exact same numbers give a risk of almost 9%. a panel that meets the level of criteria for treatment. >> every one of us is different we all have our risks and individual factors that may make treatment more beneficial or more difficult. and to deal with that we're urging a patient clinician discussion. >> so, johnn, no more monitoring l

it turns out that they elevate the so-called bad cholesterol, ldl. >> will this save lives and avoid heart attacks? >> this action will save lives. the cdc estimates that if we can reduce the levels of trans fat currently in the american diet, we can probably save about 7,000 people from preventable death and prevent about 20,000 heart attacks. >> trans fat is created by turning liquid vegetable oil into fat. processed food manufacturers use it because it extends the shelf life and improves the flavor of some food including snack foods such as microwave popcorn, crackers, and cookies. packaged soup, cakes, pies, and biscuits, stick marriage gins, vegetable shortenings, and frostings. some restaurants use trans fats in fried food. restaurants are doing little so far to resist the ban knowing they've been voluntarily reducing trans fats for years. in 2003 americans consumed more than 2.6 grams of fat a day. by 2012 it plummeted but the fda says there's no safe consumption. new york city banned the use of trans fats in restaurants seven years ago. more than a dozen other localities foll

before they would pick your ldl, match thato your ris factors, pick a mag number and take medications to go after that number. that's the par that's going to change. if you go to the doctor and meet one of those four groups that stephanie just mentioned, theyl just go right ahead and start you on a hher dose of statin thanbefore. and you won't get it checked all e time. yoll still need your blood checke to make se you're tolerating , but you won't have that mic goalumber to strive for. >> so the change comg for the next doctor's visit next time around for a lot of folks. doctor, thank you as alws for visiting us tonight. >>> and on psident obama's new alth care law, a former president o likes and supports it h nonetheless now joined the chor of people pushing the president to keep his promise for all of tse americans who like their health insurancwho wanto keep it. get more on this toc tonight from n's peter alexander at the white house. >> reporter: the white house has uted him as t explainer in chief. but during a recent interview, president inton urged president oba to make goodn h

they raise the low density lipoprotein count or the ldl which is bad cholesterol. they lower hdl which is the good cholesterol. >> reporter: in 2006, trans-fat content was added to labels to help consumers make wiser food choices. the following year, new york city became the first in the nation to ban the ingredient in restaurants. other cities have since followed. even popular fast food restaurants across the country have eliminated, replaced, or reduced the use of artificial trans-fats in their products. today the grocery manufacturers association responded to the proposal saying we look forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers. food industry experts say they expect manufacturers to get creative to keep customers satisfied. >> there is no question that their scientists are hard at work right now coming up with alternative formulations that will continue to maximize the allure of their product. they are not going to ship anything to the grocery store that isn't as irresistibly tasty as they

what we're trying to avoid is this, ldl or bad cholesterol building up as plaque in the blood vesselwalls. because that plaque buildup is what can cause heart attacks. the cdc says ditching trans fats would prevent up to 20,000 heart attacks a year and as many as 7,000 more deaths from heart disease. new york city banned trans fats from restaurants in 2007 and many companies and popular chains around the country have already phased them out. the grocery manufacturers association says that it looks forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can better serve consumers. now, none of this is a done deal yet. there's a 60-day public comment period. the fda's going to consider concerns, suggestions that anybody including the manufacturers might have. but, again, this is a pretty big deal. i want to talk more about this with cnn managing editor cat kinsman, welcome back to the program. >> thanks, sanjay. >> what are we talking about with trans fats? which foods are the worst offenders here? >> well, a lot of them are sort of your treat foods, mi

second category, patients with an ldl of gator than 190.ch falls between 70 and 190. and the last category, patients who are 40 to 75 with an ldl of 70 and 189 who have a calculated ten-year risk of having an event. >> and that's where we'll see a lot more people coming in to the category of needing to take the drugs? >> the concerns are, people are saying they just want to throw pills at me. we know they have a lot of side effects. do the side effects outweigh the benefits? >> overall the risk of side effects in general is very low. the ones we are concerned with would be mild muscle aches or pain or damage to the muscles, liver damage, confusion or mental status changes. and the one that is the most fear that people have focused on is the predominance or development of diabetes. however, as in general, the overall side effects is low and the benefits of these medications is extremely high in terms of preventing heart steak and stroke. >> to use their own phrase against them, one of them may be i'm taking this pill now, i'm good. >> forget

scientific community over years of research is that it can, by ingesting this trans fat, it can raise your ldlol, which is your bad cholesterol. anddit can lower your good cholesterol, which is vhdl. gerri: it's like a double whammy. and unfortunately, that can lead to a buildup of plaque and can actually then lead to a heart attack. gerri: here is my issue, and i love pies and cakes and cookies, but this is almost like an industrial ingredient to make things taste better? >> when they originally started using it in the 50s, it was because it was cheaper than animal fat and butter. that was one of the reasons and this is something you have to do day after day and year after year. >> does that mean that i can't have this rematch mean, what are you going to next? >> i know what you're saying. >> you don't need cookies and cakes and baked goods to have this. >> the message isn't to eliminate. gerri: let me read you a tweet. >> why can't we just make these decisions ourselves? >> not enough people are. enough people are not looking at what they need to do this is a small step. gerri: i don't think

jon: ldl is the bad cholesterol. your ldl was at 190 or higher, doctors gave you statins to lower it right? >> right. jon: now the suggestion is the numbers are not as important but the risk factors. some people who might have cholesterol levels that high might not get statins? >> no. if your number is that high you will still get a statin over 191. jon: i see. >> however if it is lower than that and you do not smoke, your risk, we're saying you have a low risk of a heart attack over 10 years, saying 7%, 7.5%, and you can go online figur what your risk is, yes, we're going to have you live a very healthy lifestyle and not care as much as, as what that particular number is. so i think it will be hard for us to we're very go oriented people and like to look for a goal or a target. it will be kind of hard to eliminate what the goal is and just try to stay healthy being on medication without a particular plan what we're trying to achieve in terms of a goal. jon: sounds like you don't think it will make things necessarily

. >> it's a big deal because it affects so many people. 1. 1:3 have high levels of ldl or bad cholesterol. the american heart association and the american association of cardiology released a new calculator to figure out a person's risk of heart problems some worry that it's over predicting that risk. let's say you are a 60-year-old black man and normal cholesterol level and you are considered healthy. not a smoker and no diabetes. but yet the calculator would show he has a 7.5% risk of heart attack or stroke in the next decade and that number seems high by doctors. >> at that level he should start taking stanons. stanons -- statons. the people with the high level of cholesterol they remain about the same but the number of people being treated for it has jumped by 50 percent. the american heart association has said it should encourage more patients to talk with their doctors. and at the moment it's ticking with our calculator. we should have a long talk with our doctors. >> now to princeton university where seven cases of me meningis have been confirmed since march. pending final cdc appr

ldl or bad cholesterol building up as plaque in the blood vessel walls. because that plaque buildup is what can cause heart attacks. the cdc says ditching transfats would prevent up to 20,000 heart attacks a year and as many as 7,000 more deaths from heart disease. new york city banned transfats from restaurants in 2007. and many companies, and popular chains around the country have already phased them out. the grocery manufacturers association says that it looks forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can better serve consumers. i should point out, again, our society as a whole has done a pretty good job when it comes to transfats. in 2003, the average american ate 4.6 grams a day and sort of voluntarily, it's now down to about a gram a day. a lot of it because of the leadership in new york, under mayor bloomberg, banning those in restaurants. >> if this happens the way the fda wants it to, how will the food land escape change? >> well, it will be interesting. there's a 60-day comment period before this ca

so for people who didn't have heart disease, it was getting the ldl down to 100. and for those who did have heart disease, it was getting it down to 70. and there was no basis for these numbers. so they've been abandoned. and these guidelines have been around for ten years. is there has been a fixation of americans to get their numbers right, even though so many of them are just getting a cosmetic effect on their blood test without actually improving their risk of getting heart disease. so this has been a big problem. we've already overcooked the use of statins. the data, the evidence for people who have heart disease is overwhelming. it's the people who don't have heart disease, this concern of 40 million americans already and possibly doubling that, that is really worry some. >> let me turn to obama care. president clinton today came out with a pretty striking criticism of president obama. listen to what he had to say. >> i personally believe, even if it takes changing the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people

is ou1 out of 3 have bad ldl.he american heart association and the american college of the cardiology released a new call calculator to figure out a person's heart problems. >> some are worrying that it's over predicting the risk. >> let's say you are a 60-year-old black man with northerly cholesterol level an overall healthy and you are not a smoker an no diabetes. the calculator show hs he has a 7.5% risk of having a heart attack or stroke. that number seems high to doctors. at that level he should take statons. even though he is healthy. >> the number of people with high levels of bad cholesterol has remin remained about the sa. but the number being treated for it has jumped 70%. of ththe american heart associan defended those guidelines and says they should encourage more patients to talk to their doctors and for the moment it's sticking with that calculator. ♪ >> michael eaves is here with sports and a rough day for one member of the denver broncos. >> it didn't happen on the field. raheem moore under went em

it increases our ldl and increases our bad cholesterol. this is a generation of plaque on our or tearal walls. >> the food industry spends a lot of money finding out what kind of taste people will always be addicted tore eed to or attr including this bliss taste where they put sthuger and salt and fat together to keep you coming back for more. how do you fight against that without some intervention without the good old fda? >> we're playing the seesaw. personal freedom versus public health. what we're seeing is these companies are pulling out because we do have substitutions such as soybean oil. they're doing the right thing in this sense. >> i think they are. a lot us need to be told. jamie's always telling me, chill out on some of the fats. >> i love you, i want you to be healthy. >> can you have an addiction to transfats? >> i don't think there's an addiction, but it does taste good. pastries, microwave popcorn, frozen pizzas, they taste yummy. hopefully the companies will do the right things and we'll be able to pull it. >> some of an

what we're trying to avoid is this -- ldl or bad cholesterol building up as plaque in the blood vesseldup is what can cause heart attacks. the cdc says ditching trans fats would prevent up to 20,000 heart attacks a year and as many as 7,000 more deaths from heart disease. new york city banned trans fats from restaurants in 2007. and many companies and popular chains around the country have already phased them out. the grocery manufacturers association says that it looks forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can better serve consumers. >> okay. so, i've got a bunch of food here, and i'm joined -- take the true shot now. with so many foods to choose from it can be hard to navigate, and we're going to try to figure out what's murky in these ingredients because sometimes it says it has no trans fats and it might have trans fats. not all the foods here have trans fats in them. that's not what we're saying. we have a variety here. and some of this is my favorite diet. these. i want to bring in the experts now. joining me in studio is alexis

you want your total cholesterol below 200, your hdl, your good cholesterol, above 60, ldl below 100. now, i throw those numbers at you because a lot of people know these numbers but as you pointed out, they're not that relevant anymore in this new sort of paradigm. instead, they're looking at specific risk factors and saying you take a statin if you have diabetes, period. that's it. if you have evidence of heart disease, doesn't matter what your cholesterol is, you take a statin. if you have a bad cholesterol over 190, that's usually in people with congenitally high cholesterol, they take a statin and this spinal thing, this ten-year risk. if your chance of developing heart disease over ten years is over 7.5%, you take a statin. so this is a big difference not only in how many people will take statins but in the way the medical establishment sort of approaches this whole thing as well. >> sanjay, explain this ten-year heart disease risk score. what is that and how is it factored, how is it figured out? >> this is sort of a little bit more of a potpourri. it involves a few different t

they raise the low density kounlt, the ldl, the bad cholesterol and lower the hdl, the good cholesterol>> in 2006 transfat was added to labels to make wiser food choices. new york city banned it in restaurants. other cities have since followed. popular fast food restaurants across the country have eliminated, relaced or reduced the use of artificial transfats in products. the grocery manufacture's association said we look forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can serve consumers. food industry experts say if it's approved, they expect manufacturers to get creative to keep customers satisfied. >> there's no question scientists are hard at work coming up with alternative formulations that will continue to maximize the allure of their products. they are not going to ship stuff, anything to the grocery store that isn't as irresistibly tasty as they can make it. >> of course, thank you dr. nancy snyderman. we are going to talk about this again, never. >> no, major bloomberg, such a leader on this. >> a big event in north carolina. billy grah

the old recommendations focuseds almost specifically on ldl numbers. the new focus is to step away from the numbers and think about cholesterol with four big questions. number one, have you had a heart attack or stroke before, is your ldo over 90, number three do you have diabetes and are you over the age of 40 and number 4, is your ten-year risk of having a heart attack or stroke greater than 10%. if any of the answers are yes, based on the guidelines, you should be on a statin. >> why does it say it means guide lions mean twice the americans will be taking the statins. what are the sidelines? >> that's what's making guidelines controversial. it will include greater number of people in the statin pool, however, statins do have sight effects. some of the most common are joint papers, muscle pans, live problems. there are two schools of thought. there are doctors who think everyone should be on a statin, it should be in the water. other doctors are much more skeptical of it. putting double the number of patients in the pool is creating some controversy.

ldl or bad cholesterol building up as plaque in the blood vessel walls.attacks a year. new york city banned trans fats from restaurants in 2007 and many companies and popular chains around the country have already phased them out. the grocery manufacturer's association says it looks forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can better serve consumers. christi and victor, if there is good news in this, we have done a pretty good job here at limiting our trans fats on our own. about ten years ago, we had four and now it is closer to a gram per day. now the fda wants to ban them all together. there is a 60-day period where you can ask questions or concerns. it is expected to go through. industry doing a lot to curb these trans fats. big question going forward. what will they replace it with? there may be alternatives that scientists are working on as well. christi and victor. >> that is the big question. dr. sanjay gupta, thank you. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] if you can clear a crowd but not your na

is you're ldl over 190. number three, are you older than 40-75 years of age. based on new guidelines you should be on a statin. >> why are people saying guidelines may mean twice as many americans should consider taking statins? what are the side effects? >> right. that's really kind of what'smaking guidelines controversial. it will include a greater number of people in the statin pool. how far, statins have side effects. some of the most common joint pain, muscle pains, liver problems. there are two schools of thought. there are doctors that think everyone should be on a statin it should be in the water. other doctors are much more skeptical of it. so putting double the number of patients in the pool is creating controversy. >> thank you. >>> time to show you some of this morning's headlines from around the globe. the washington post says the justice department reached a deal to allow the merger of u.s. air ways and american. the combined company will make room for low cost competitors but could end direct flights to smaller airports. >>> nourk's one worldew

the old recommendations focuseds almost specifically on ldl numbers. the new focus is to step away from the numbers and think about cholesterol with four big questions. number one, have you had a heart attack or stroke before, is your ldo over 90 number three do you have diabetes and are you over the age of 40 and number 4, is your ten-year risk of having a heart attack or stroke greater than 10%. if any of the answers are yes, based on the guidelines you should be on a statin. >> why does it say it means guide lions mean twice the americans will be taking the statins. what are the sidelines? >> that's what's making guidelines controversial. it will include greater number of people in the statin pool however, statins do have sight effects. some of the most common are joint papers muscle pans live problems. there are two schools of thought. there are doctors who think everyone should be on a statin, it should be in the water. other doctors are much more skeptical of it. putting double the number of patients in the pool is creating some controversy. >> t

so 190 is the new ldl level that should be looke at for a red flag for treatment.now advised by the american cardiolog asciation that four groups be treatenumber e, ldl greater than 190. >> greater than 190. >> group two, if you have cardiovascular disease, that means,stroke, heart aack or coronary artery disease. number three, diabetic. st diabetics over the age of 40. and lastly a t year risk of having an event greater than 7.5%. it is confusin but thes are the new guidelines >> all right. othegroups as well that should be ccerned as well. >> yes, now it's the diabetics will likely need one as well. >> ay. e number is sen. this is for theours of sleep we should be getting. >> should be getting. >> most of usround here aret getting that. >> no, but seven or more is the optimal number of hours of sleep so that you have good healthut if you get lesshan seven you' increasing your likelihood of obesity and heart disease. if you're waking upgroggy in the morningo to bed5 minutes earlier th next night. >> sounds good. >> right. >> the number 14. 14 and again for men and

turns out that they elevate the so-called bad cholesterol, ldl. >> will this save lives and avoid heart>> this will save lives. the cdc says if we can reduce the level of trans fat currently in the american diet we can probably save about 7,000 people from preventable death and prevent about 20,000 heart attacks. >> reporter: trans fat is created by turning liquid vegetable oil into fat. processed food manufacturers use it because it extends the shelf life and improves the flavor of some foods including snack foods such as microwave popcorn, crackers and cookies. packaged sups cakes, pies biscuits, stick margarines and vegetable shortables and ready h of the to-use frostings. and restaurants use it. they've been voluntarily reducing trans fats for years. in 2003 americans consumed 4.6 grams of trans fat a day. by 2012 it plummeted to one gram day, but the fda says there's no safe level. >> trans fats have been used for decades so why are they making a move now? >> there's been a movement to taking it out of our supply and there's been a 75% drop in the consumption of it. but it's still

. >> they raise your ldl or bad cholesterol. lower hdl or good cholesterol.you get them out of the food supply it will save 7,000 lives a year. >> i don't know about the labels. that's the big question whether they should be outlawed. in 2006 they added it to tables. after the labeling it went down to 1 gram per day. by law, congress requires fda evaluates all food additives if they say they're not safe they have to get them out. >> what happens next? >> it opens upa 60-day comment period. after that, they have to be out of everything we eat. >> lara. >> now we turn to the new developments of the nfl hazing case. this morning, a special counsel set to dig into the allegations of the accusations. and matt gutman is there with the very latest. good morning, matt. >> reporter: good morning. investigators essentially being brought in to act as a referee, to make the call between two vastly different narratives. one, jonathan martin simply calling foul about something that is fair play in the nfl? or was he so brutally bullied that it drove him to a mental breakdo

turns out that they elevate the so-called bad cholesterol, ldl. >> will this save lives and avoid heart>> this will save lives. the cdc says if we can reduce the level of trans fat currently in the american diet we can probably save about 7,000 people from preventable death and prevent about 20,000 heart attacks. >> reporter: trans fat is created by turning liquid vegetable oil into fat. processed food manufacturers use it because it extends the shelf life and improves the flavor of some foods including snack foods such as microwave popcorn, crackers and cookies. packaged sups cakes, pies biscuits, stick margarines and vegetable shortables and ready h of the to-use frostings. and restaurants use it. they've been voluntarily reducing trans fats for years. in 2003 americans consumed 4.6 grams of trans fat a day. by 2012 it plummeted to one gram day, but the fda says there's no safe level. >> trans fats have been used for decades so why are they making a move now? >> there's been a movement to taking it out of our supply and there's been a 75% drop in the consumption of it. but it's still

what we're trying to avoid is this -- ldl, or bad cholesterol, building up as plaque in the blood vessel walls. because that plaque buildup is what can cause heart attacks. the cdc says ditching trans fats would prevent up to 20,000 heart attacks a year and as many as 7,000 more deaths from heart disease. new york city banned trans fats from restaurants in 2007, and many companies and popular chains around the country have already phased them out. the grocery manufacturers association says that it looks forward to working with the fda to better understand their concerns and how the industry can better serve consumers. now, fred, if there is some good news in this, if you look back at 2003, we ate over 4 grams of trans fats a day on average as americans, and now it's closer to a gram a day. and a lot of the changes have just happened voluntarily, and because of people paying attention to labels and things like that. so we've made a lot of progress on our own. but i think this decision by the fda could eliminate the trans fats nearly entirely, and that's their goal. right now, there's a 60

it creates high cholesterol, especially our ldl cholesterol, which is our bad cholesterol. it also makes foods really tasty. the problem with that is then we want to eat more. there could be some contribution to our obesity and overweight epidemic. >> if this is removed from your favorite frozen pizza, what is it replaced with and does it affect the taste? >> it may go back to older formulas. it may affect the taste, the texture. that might be a positive for some people, a negative for others because we all have different taste buds. however, it may make it healthier, but what if they replace it with the saturated fat, which we know leads to the same issues. >> not good. >> are we going to replace a not good with a less not so good, or maybe in my opinion, we might be missing a message all together. >> do you think so far if this happened, the fda is moving in a right direction and you support it. >> >> i do support it because we know transfats are negative on our health. they are tasty foods, convenience foods. since we as an american public aren't making the best choices

statens were used to lower ldl levels, bad colester om.octors are urged to prescribe stattens for those likely to suffer stroke for heart disease. >> doctors will find the guideline easy to use. the focus is not on the number, it's on the right intensity of therapy. >> people who fall into high-risk categories will be given statens, including those with heart disease, type 2 diabetes and those with high levels of unhealthy collester roll. in addition there's a new target group. they are individuals that fall between the ages of 40 and 75; that had a percentage risk of developing heart disease or stroke in the next 10 years. >> whilst statens can be beneficial the old rule applies. emphasis on a healthy lifestyle, exercise and vegetables as a key to avoid a number one killer this the country. >>> dr kim williams is vice president of the american college. cardiology, one of the groups calling for the statens and how they are prescribed. thank you for being was. this is called a major shift. what is significant about it, how did it come about

let's not look on that script and say your ldl is 130, 160.actors that the patient is going to have heart disease? does the patient have a family history of heart disease? does they have high blood pressure or cholesterol? a risk of stroke? do they smoke? are they diabetic? these risk factors will determine whether you go on the cholesterol-lowering drugs or not. >> one of the risk factors means you should be on statins? >> they're saying one of those risk factors means you should consider a statin. they're saying 15% of americans are on it now. let's double that number. let's get it to 44% of men and 22% of women should end up taking statins. let me tell you the problem and let me tell you what i like about it. the problem i have is i'm not a guidelines person. i think everything has to be patient by patient. there are a lot of nuances, how much do they exercise or weigh? how much of a family history do they really have? everything is not a formula. so i'm against guidelines in general because they tend to be misinterpreted. what i like about