The Politics of Trans Fats

KFC announced yesterday it would start frying chicken in oil free of trans fats. Also discussing a ban on the artery clogging fat is New York City's Health Board for its 20,000 plus restaurants. Chicago has a similar measure.

The average American consumes 4.7 pounds of this stuff every year. It is in many baked goods including crackers, donuts and cookies as well as in deep frying. But what exactly is it and why is it bad for you?

Trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil. The purpose of this is to lengthen the shelf life of the product and make frying oil last longer.

Partially hydrogenated oil raises bad cholesterol (LDL) and at the same time lowers good cholesterol (HDL). Trans fat is said to be worse than saturated fat because it is considered unnatural.

It is pretty well accepted that these fats are health detriments, but is banning them the answer? Mark Sisson’s Daily Apple questions:

It’s Prohibition all over again. What do you all think about major cities banning certain fattening foods? Is this blatantly unconstitutional, or simply in the interest of public health? . . . But here’s the real question: Just like the too-skinny models (perhaps a redundancy) banned in Spain, is banning trans fat in restaurants the right step? Might we think about going to the source by sending a message to Congressional lobbyists working for Big Agra instead?

There are also questions concerning the supply of healthy oil alternatives. With trans-fat-free oils having the potential to outpace supply, some fear NYC cooks will be forced to use quick fix substitutes like palm oil that have high levels of saturated fat. Others say there will be an adequate supply. Monsanto Corp is working to persuade farmers to grow the special soybean used in KFC’s oil and farmers are also offered incentives to grow this soybean.

Instead of implementing bans, why not give consumers choice. Post information on substances that contain more than trace amounts of trans fat on menus. Many food suppliers switched to healthier fats when forced to label trans fats in early 2006. Maybe with other types of incentives like tax breaks, restaurants will follow suit.

-Dippold

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