No more trans fats in NYC
As of July 1, 2008, all restaurants in New York City are required, by law, to remove all trans fats in their foods. I find this very interesting to watch as the food laws in NYC unfold. A recent law was also passed to require chain restaurants to post nutrition information on their menus.
The question that many people are asking is whether these rulings will make a difference in obesity rates, or heart disease rates.
Trans fats are used in a variety of foods, especially baked goods, to lengthen shelf life. Unfortunately, they are helpful for the food industry, but not for our health. Trans fats are just as bad as saturated fats for our heart heath.
Will this ban on trans fats make a difference? I tend to think it won't- primarily because the foods that trans fats are typically used in are baked goods and foods that need shelf life. These are not generally healthy foods in the first place. In most cases, trans fats are just a cheaper replacement for saturated fats like butter.
When I was a child, I grew up in a kosher home. I'll never forget that when I was young, I was never allowed to eat Oreos because they had lard in them. Lard is a saturated fat. I was only allowed to eat Hydrox (wonder if there is a reason they are called 'hydrox' as in 'hydrogenated') cookies because they weren't made with lard. They were made with partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) instead of lard. I grew up reading food labels to look for ingredients that we weren't allowed to have in a kosher home. Years later, I was reading a package of oreos and noticed that there was no longer any lard in them. Surprise- the companies switched lard to partially hydrogenated oils. HMMM-so what are we going to switch the hydrogenated oils to when trans fats are taken out of these baked goods? I predict that these products will be back to having lard instead of hydrogenated oils. What's healthier???? Neither! Needless to say, baked goods and packaged goods aren't necessarily 'health foods', so if we are trying to make these healthy, I think we're spending a lot of time and money in the wrong area.
This ban on trans fats isn't a bad thing, however, I'm not convinced that it's going to make a difference in our heath. The bottom line is: fried foods with or without trans fats still aren't healthy.
