The New York Trans Fat Ban and Your Diet

by Ken Schweickert

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On July 1, 2008 New York banned all local food vendors from using trans fats in the foods they serve. This regulation has been debated for several reasons, but let's take a closer look at the most common objections and see what really happened after the trans fat ban went into effect. Also, and maybe more importantly, how does this actually affect what you should eat?

First, let's quickly review what trans fats are and why they are so bad. A trans fat is usually not a naturally occurring lipid. It is generally man made by partially hydrogenating oils. Trans fats are common in shortening and margarine and are most often used in baked or fried goods. They are used frequently by companies for three main reasons: they are cheap, they preserve the food, and they provide a texture that people seem to like.

There are many reasons why trans fats are bad for you. One such reason is because they increase your LDL (bad) cholesterol and reduce your HDL (good) cholesterol. Trans fat hardens the arteries in the body and has been linked to heart disease. Enzyme function is impaired by the consumption of trans fats. They can make it even more difficult to lose weight in comparison to traditional fats. Trans fats are very difficult to metabolize. They release free radicals which can cause cancer as well as several other disorders. They have even been shown to break down existing muscle and deter the growth of new muscle. And the list goes on and on (as you may already know if you read my articles frequently).

So with that bit of background knowledge, let's dive right in and see what kind of objections people could possibly have against eliminating these fats from our diets. Some argue that the trans fats provide a necessary texture for certain foods. In reality, once the deadline came near, finding replacement oils for trans fats was not as problematic as some critics claimed. The city even offered training programs, prior to the effective date, to help restaurants eliminate their trans fats. If the food only requires a small amount of trans fat, vendors are still permitted to sell foods containing less than half a gram of trans fat. Yes, less than half a gram can still hurt you; however, this is not an unusual exception as even the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows companies to list, or even advertise, zero grams of trans fat so long as it is less than 0.5g per serving. Whether the vendors in question found a new oil or just reduced the amount of trans fat used, reports still show a very high correspondence rating. The few who are caught still using trans fats during periodic investigations will face a fine.

One of the most reasonable objections was that rather than switching to healthier oils, companies would just replace the trans fats with saturated fats or something even worse. While this is a good point, saturated fat is not as bad for you as trans fats; however, that is not exactly a satisfactory response either, as ideally food would actually be good for you, not just less bad. In some cases, the trans fat probably was replaced with saturated fats, but other companies have been making an effort to change their oils once and for all. Many large establishments are promoting themselves with their use of better oils�not saturated fat. As for anyone who did switch to saturated fats, New York is now working on another policy requiring restaurants to make more available their nutrition information. While this in itself is not a solution to high quantities of saturated fats, it hopefully will have an effect on the amount of goods sold that are high in saturated fat which would then force the restaurants to look to better solutions as a result of falling sales.

This article has multiple sections:
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