Trans Fats Banned In NYC

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In December of 2006, New York City's Board of Health approved a ban on the use of trans fats in restaurants and school cafeterias. This ban was the first of it's kind, throughout the entire nation. As of July 1st, 2007, restaurants were not allowed to serve any foods that contained more than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Restaurants will have until July of 2008 to completely eliminate trans fats from all of their foods.

Are Restaurants Complying with the ban?

New York City reporters have participated in undercover stings to find out just how many restaurants have been respecting the new ban. The results may surprise you. The New York Post visited twelve food establishments. The reporter requested fries, which were analyzed by an infrared scanner. Five of the twelve restaurants were found to have cooked their fries in the illegal trans fat oil. One offending restaurant had 2.9 grams of trans fat in their order of fries, which was well over the legal limit. In another article, it was reported that two well-known fast food establishments were found to have more than three grams of trans fat in their large servings of fries. The fast food companies and the center that analyzed the fries were all very quick with "reasons" that would account for the fries being over the limit. It just makes one wonder, doesn't it? If trans fats are still in restaurant foods, for whatever reason, how effective is this "ban" and how is it benefiting us?

What's so bad about trans fats?

Trans fats are horrible for our bodies. Not only do they raise our bad (LDL) cholesterol, at the same time - they also lower our good (HDL) cholesterol. The FDA estimates 4.7 pounds of trans fats are consumed every year, by each American. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, if we could eliminate trans fats completely from our lives, the occurrence of coronary heart disease could be reduced by 19 percent. Banning this artery-clogging substance was a healthy idea.

How you can keep trans fats from affecting YOU

Since the nation's restaurants use close to fourteen million pounds of trans fats per day, the odds are pretty good that you will consume some it (unless you never dine out, that is). If you do avoid restaurants, trans fats are still common in some commercial baked goods, margarines, chips, popcorns, shortening, salad dressings, candies and cereals. With a lot of determination, you may be able to evade ALL trans fats. But, don't forget, there are still other artery clogging fats out there, and nobody can shun them all. Fortunately, there are natural products available to you that have been clinically proven to be 99% effective in normalizing high cholesterol levels.

Sources:

http://news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/transfat/nyctransfatlaw.html

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222007/news/regionalnews/its_still_fat_city_despite_trans_ban_regionalnews

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07222007/news/regionalnews/its_still_fat_city_despite_trans_ban_regionalnews

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/02/ap3982563.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16051436/

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=173571

http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=173571

Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine