I wrote a bit a couple of weeks ago about Trans fats and the fact that New York city was going to be perhaps banning trans fats in restaurants. Well it has happened. I just saw the news break and that means that today there will be stories in the news all about What trans fats are, how they are bad for us, and how much we should consume. I hope that you remember that past article as it seems that there is not healthy amount of trans fats to consume so any amount is to much. It will be interesting to see what happens now as I once heard that there are 20 or so Macdonalds restaurants in Manhattan itself let alone the other outlying boroughs.
As you probably remember trans fats are create by making hydrogenated vegetable oil, that is pumping hydrogen through Vegetable oil to give it a longer shelf life and
The Board of Health has voted to make New York the first city in the nation to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant food. The board is expected to give restaurants a slight break by relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance.
The board also ordered restaurants to standardize how they display the number of calories in dishes on their menus in an effort to combat obesity. This means that perhaps we will start to get better information on fat and calorie contents of foods everywhere so that we can make better decisions than just picking the “healthy Choice menu item at the local restaurant.
Here is a graph from the Associated Press showing some trans fat facts:
Trans fat naturally occurs in some foods, like butter, but are also formed in the processing of some foods where product texture and shelf life are desired. I’ve learned a lot about this subject because I work with the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers. In addition, heart disease runs in my family so I’ve got a personal interest in this subject as well.
Have you looked at a margarine label lately? You won’t find any soft or liquid margarine that contain trans fat, and trans fat levels of stick margarines have been greatly reduced. Using new technologies, margarine manufacturers have met the challenge and eliminated or reduced trans fat in margarine products, making a good product even better. In fact, the margarine industry has led the food industry in removing trans fat content from its products. Soft, liquid and spray margarine products are now in sync with the recommendations included in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the MyPyramid food guidance system. Soft margarine products were elevated in their importance in that they “help meet essential fatty acid needs and also contribute toward Vitamin E needs” according to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee Report.
When comparing margarine to butter, many margarine products are the recommended alternative as stated by of the American Heart Association, as well as the Federal government’s National Cholesterol Education Program. And yes, it’s still an economical choice for the consumer. For more information, visit http://margarine.org/qanda.html, http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/cholmonth/chol_kit.htm and http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1200000.
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COMMENT:
Oh man. Getting rid of trans fats in restaurants would be awesome.
In fact, to be honest, I would love restaurants to introduce nutritional value for every element (ie. protein, carbs, fat, etc). Whilst I think its important to tackle obesity,* I* would want this purely for those of us who are planning to build our body’s! Selfish I know, but it’s so difficult going to restaurants guestimating how many calories are in his meal, or how many grams of protein is in this steak – or even how many grams of carbs are in this bowl of rice/paste, etc.
I know that being fat can have major health implications. But there are those of us out there sitting on the other site of the fence who are completely ignored 🙂
Those of us who want to put on some !
Shane
Sports Nutrition
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