Take a Hike Trans Fats

by: AndreaDow
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Word Count: 375

Tuesday, December 12th

Take a Hike Trans Fats

Stop the presses.....New Yorkers actually approved a plan to phase out trans fats in all 20,000 of its restaurants! I am shocked and thrilled that this was approved. It will be a big change for restaurants that will have to buy healthier and more expensive ingredients instead of trans fats. Restaurants perfer to use the hydrogenated oils because the oil has a longer shelf life. Consumers will hopefully not have to work as hard to make better food choices knowing that trans fat (remember these are more dangerous than saturated fats) are off the menu. The New England Journal of Medicine stated that "per calorie, trans fats raise the risk of coronary heart disease more than any other micronutrient". The restaurant ban may not seem like it will change things, but with 1/3 of all trans fat consumption coming from restaurants, consumers will undoubtedly be taking one step closer to protecting their health.

Now that New Yorkers have approved the ban, will others follow suit? Tufts Health and Nutrition Letter reports that the only country to have a complete ban on anything containing more than 2% of trans fats is Denmark. While Canadians were the first to mandate trans-fat labeling, they still do not have a nationwide band. Chicago is also considering some changes based on the latest developments in New York City. The World Health Organization made a bold statement by recommending that governments worldwide not only label trans fat in foods, but also consider eliminating the product if labeling alone does not lead to significant redutions in consumption.

There is still a long ways to go before the ban takes place and many of the larger chain restaurants may try fighting the ban in court. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis, the restaurant chains that have been aggressive in lowering their trans fat content include KFC, Wendy's, Panera Bread Co., Ruby Tuesday, California Pizza Kitchen and Legal Seafood. McDonalds and Wendys are still working to maintain taste in popular foods like french fries with non-hydrogenated oils and have not yet eliminated the dangerous oil from the products. The overall problem of too many calories and too little activity still needs to be addressed, but we are on the right track!

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