Trans fats banned in NY

• Wednesday December 6, 2006 in: Diet and Exercise Tag(s):

  Technorati Tags: diet, health, trans fats

  Weeks after news about its plans to stop the use of artificial trans fats in all eateries in New York City broke out, the city's Board of Health has finally voted unanimously Tuesday to make the ban official, making it the first city in the United States to do so.

  The city has established strict limits on trans fats, which are generally regarded by doctors and nutritionists as the worst of all fats, and are directly linked to heart disease. The New York Times tells us more about this landmark decision:

  The new requirements will mean that the city's 20,000 food establishments, from high-end bistros to neighborhood delis, will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July 1, 2007, and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 1, 2008. The establishments have to switch to oils, margarines and shortening that meet the limits and bring their menus into compliance.

  The new rules, however, will allow restaurants to serve foods that come in the manufacturer's original packaging, even if they contain traces of trans fats.

  The health department's new limits, which were advocated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, will make New York the first large city in the country to strictly limit the chemically modified ingredients that were once considered a benign alternative to the saturated fats in butter.

  Of course, not everyone is happy with this ruling. Doctors and nutritionists might approve, but many restaurant owners in New York are not so pleased.

  Dan Fleshler, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association, said today that the city's proposals were "an attempt at misguided social engineering by a group of physicians that don't understand the restaurant industry."

  Yeah, these doctors might not understand the restaurant business, but this guy definitely knows zip about helping people live longer, healthier lives. Trans fats clog arteries, and clogged arteries mean heart attacks. And heart attacks mean, well, you get the picture.

  But then again, we're talking about New York City, a city which sees itself as the epitome of American democracy, where anyone can choose to eat what he likes, whether it's healthy or not, because it's his or her inalienable right.

  Oh well.