CNN/AP: NYC health board bans trans fats at restaurants

[DeepModem Mom]

NYC health board bans trans fats at restaurants
December 5, 2006


A key source of trans fat is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is used for frying and baking.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Board of Health voted Tuesday to make New York the nation's first city to ban artery-clogging artificial trans fats at restaurants -- from the corner pizzeria to high-end bakeries.

The board, which passed the ban unanimously, did give restaurants a slight break by relaxing what had been considered a tight deadline for compliance. Restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of their foods by July 2008....

***

Trans fats are believed to be harmful because they contribute to heart disease by raising bad cholesterol and lowering good cholesterol at the same time. Some experts say that makes trans fats worse than saturated fat.

The panel also passed another measure that has made restaurants unhappy: Some that choose to inform customers about calorie content will have to list the information right on the menu. The rule would generally apply to fast-food restaurants and other major chains....

Trans fats are formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats by adding hydrogen in a process called hydrogenation. A common example of this is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is used for frying and baking and turns up in processed foods like cookies, pizza dough and crackers. Trans fats, which are favored because of their long shelf life, are also found in pre-made blends like pancake and hot chocolate mix....

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/12/05/ny.trans.fat.ap/index.html

[Missy M]

1. This is all getting out of hand........

with the food police. If a person wants to eat french fries made with trans fat then so be it. A restaurant having to inform customers about calorie content is also ridiculous. Do you think someone craving a cheeseburger with fries is really concerned about calories. If you want, eat broiled fish with a green salad with vinegar, if you want eat french fries and cheeseburgers however they are made. I am sick, sick, sick of being told by the government what I can or cannot personally do.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. I don't have a problem with the labeling.

I'd rather education over Zorcor, anyday.

[Missy M]

6. Don't you think the public has already been educated....

on what is supposedly healthy and what is not. How many people do you think read what is labeled and what the calorie content is. Like I said a person wanting to eat the french fries and cheeseburgers etc. doesn't really care about the calories or the trans fat and the person who won't eat that diet does. Soon you will be told what you can or cannot buy in the grocery store or eat in your own home. You should be very concerned about it. I know people on so called healthy diets who are told they have high cholesterol and are still put on Zorcor. The doctors love keeping the pharmaceutical companies in business.

[Karenca]

7. Trans fats (like margarine) are one molecule away from plastic.

To create them involves putting hydrogen atoms in the wrong place. It's like making a plastic."

The problem with trans fatty acids is that your body doesn't know what to do with them, Trans fatty acids may help preserve food so that it tastes good, but your body can't break them down and use them correctly, Normal fats are very supple and pliable, but the trans fatty acid is a stiff fat that can build up in the body and create havoc. Trans fats are harmful in tiny quantities. They clog linings of blood vessels and surfaces in the brain. Trans fatty acids are linked to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and even to sudden cardiac death.

[formercia]

18. Beeswax would be healthier

Foods can be made tasty without trans fats but industrialized food production depends on an easily controlled feed stock. Just like a refinery, the process has to be adjusted with the physical qualities of the feedstock to get those consistent cookie-cutter food products.

No matter where you go in the country, the burgers from a given brand will taste and feel alike. people feel comfortable with that sameness and keep going back for more of the same.

One thing I loved about NYC was the sheer number of hole in the wall restaurants serving a galaxy of different treats, some great, some not so great, but if you didn't like one place, there are hundreds more to choose from.

It will take a while to adjust the recipes, but in the end, everyone will benefit.

[depakid]

8. First of all, people don't know whether there are trans fats in their food

or not. There's no list of ingredients on a menu....

Second it IS the government's job to keep dangerous additives out of our food supply. That was one of the reasons behind the original 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act.

Taking your argument to its logical conclusion, corporations (who actually pre-prepare a LOT of restaurant food) should be free to add in any any old this the might "enhance taste, regardless of whether it was a carcinogen or teratogen (causes birth defects) or a serious allergin that may well kill certain people.

All without anyone knowing.

ps: Most people I know do in fact, look at labels and ingredients. A selective sample to be sure- but we can't do that at most restaurants, so I'm glad that NY "stepped up to the plate." There are substitutes out there that any decent chef can use- and up and until the age of "better living through chemistry," did use.

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. No way.

You need to make allowances for us autistic type people. We become creatures of habit and it is very painful to change our patterns of behavior. I stopped the cheeseburger and hamburgers a year ago, but now hubby has high cholesterol, (dummy took a cholesterol test right after Thanksgiving weekend), and they're recommending Zocor. I'm just learning about the deceptive ways that trans fats can get into your food. corn oil, chocolate milk mix,

[Bjorn Against]

46. If they are already educated, then why are you so concerned about businesses rights to supress info?

At the very least restaurants should be required to disclose whether or not their food has transfat, and I would have no problem if the FDA decided to ban trans-fat completely. Quite simply there are many alternatives to transfat, and if you pay attention to the labels many foods that are certainly diet foods no longer have transfat in them. Look at the label of a bag of potato chips and you will see that most brands do NOT have transfat. It could easily be eliminated from the American diet and consumers would hardly notice.

[On the Road]

56. No -- Nobody Chooses to Eat Transfat in Fried Food

They rarely if ever even know. The food tastes the same. Restaurants just use hydrogenated oils because they're easier to handle for frying. This should not be an onerous law.

And it is a huge public health issue. Many cardiologists now feel that a stick of butter is worse for your cholesterol than a stick of butter (unlike softer margarines, which are low in transfat.)

[KurtNYC]

10. Okay then please don't read the handling directions on poultry

because you sure wouldn't want the big bad government telling you not only what you can eat but also how to handle it, how to cook and how long it is safe to store it. Be sure not to read this month's Consumer Reports because you sure wouldn't want some magazine telling you that there is salmonella in a fair percentage of chicken.

And why should the government get involved if Taco Bell is feeding people e coli? "Craving a cheeseburger" eclipses all tools for self-perservation apparently !?

Personally I want all the info I can get. Our food chain is messed up in a big way and millions are paying the price for it. Health is precious.

[Missy M]

19. Guess what, my grandmother made chicken, my mother made...

chicken and I made chicken before we were warned about how to handle poultry. We knew enough to cook it thoroughly and wash our hands. None of us got sick and they lived long lives. People should be smart enough on their own to know how to cook food. It's a wonder our ancestors managed to cook and enjoy eating good food without the government telling them how to do it. As far as Taco Bell feeding people e coli, they didn't knowingly do it and the government already regulates and inspects beef, so shit happens. I want the government to inspect food processing plants for cleanliness and products that are fresh and safe. The same with restaurants, but I do not want them to tell me what I can and cannot eat.

[Karenca]

24. "I do not want them to tell me what I can and cannot eat."

Well. if you hurry up, you can get all the plastic you
can eat until the new law goes into effect.

[Missy M]

27. That is the silliest statement I've read yet.

[Karenca]

30. Actually, I think your indignant righteousness

about wanting to eat a dangerous chemical that has been wrongly
placed in our foods
that should have never been put there to begin with,
well,
that is the siiliest thing I'VE ever heard.

Especially if you're planning to feed it to your children.

[Missy M]

33. My children are all grown up and very healthy......

trans fat is dangerous if you eat large amounts of it. We all need a small amount of fat in our diets to stay healthy. Since when are trans fats a dangerous chemical? There is some trans fat in something like butter, so do you consider butter a dangerous chemical. If you don't want to eat french fries cooked in trans fat that is certainly your choice. Personally, I think all the fast foods are awful tasting and I never ate or eat them, nor did I buy them for my children, but that is a persons choice to make. I think you may be the one with indignant righteousness.

[Karenca]

35. Unlike other fats, trans fats are neither required nor beneficial for health.

Health authorities worldwide recommend that consumption of trans fat be reduced to trace amounts. Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be more of a health risk than those occurring naturally.
Trans fats are increasingly being linked to chronic health conditions are tightly regulated in a few countries, are mandatory on product labels in many others, and are the central issue in several ongoing lawsuits.

http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:jeOWGQdvN0UJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat+TRans+fat&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3

[The Backlash Cometh]

36. Our diet and cooking habits have changed in the last twenty years.

I know I was raised on at least 80% natural foods and home cooking. Twenty percent was canned or processed foods. My mom never cooked with teflon. And we had regulation of foodstuff, or just damn lucky that things hadn't yet mutated the way they have. Until people started tampering with the merchandise, people felt pretty comfortable with the groceries.

Things have changed drastically since we were kids, and, at least you should admit that.

[BadgerKid]

42. I'm curious

Please provide us with a link to a peer-reviewed scientific article supporting your claim that "we all need a small amount of fat in our diets to stay healthy".

[KurtNYC]

47. Lipids are required to metabolize some essential vitamins

We need some fat in our diet, otherwise we cannot absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A,D,E and K.
In particular, certain types of fat - essential fatty acids - are vital for good health.

http://annecollins.com/dieting/types-of-fat.htm

[BadgerKid]

52. And also essential fatty acids (EFAs)

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid


Nutr Rev. 2006 May;64(5 Pt 2):S24-33; discussion S72-91.Click here to read Links
Nutrition in brain development and aging: role of essential fatty acids.

* Uauy R,
* Dangour AD.

Nutrition and Public Health Intervention Research Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom. [e-mail]

The essential fatty acids (EFAs), particularly the n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPs), are important for brain development during both the fetal and postnatal period. They are also increasingly seen to be of value in limiting the cognitive decline during aging. EFA deficiency was first shown over 75 years ago, but the more subtle effects of the n-3 fatty acids in terms of skin changes, a poor response to linoleic acid supplementation, abnormal visual function, and peripheral neuropathy were only discovered later. Both n-3 and n-6 LCPs play important roles in neuronal growth, development of synaptic processing of neural cell interaction, and expression of genes regulating cell differentiation and growth. The fetus and placenta are dependent on maternal EFA supply for their growth and development, with docosahexaenomic acid (DHA)-supplemented infants showing significantly greater mental and psychomotor development scores (breast-fed children do even better). Dietary DHA is needed for the optimum functional maturation of the retina and visual cortex, with visual acuity and mental development seemingly improved by extra DHA. Aging is also associated with decreased brain levels of DHA: fish consumption is associated with decreased risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and the reported daily use of fish-oil supplements has been linked to improved cognitive function scores, but confirmation of these effects is needed.


Biotechnol J. 2006 Apr;1(4):420-39.Click here to read Links
Essential fatty acids: biochemistry, physiology and pathology.

* Das UN.

UND Life Sciences, Shaker Heights, OH 44120, USA. [e-mail]

Essential fatty acids (EFAs), linoleic acid (LA), and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) are essential for humans, and are freely available in the diet. Hence, EFA deficiency is extremely rare in humans. To derive the full benefits of EFAs, they need to be metabolized to their respective long-chain metabolites, i.e., dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid (DGLA), and arachidonic acid (AA) from LA; and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from ALA. Some of these long-chain metabolites not only form precursors to respective prostaglandins (PGs), thromboxanes (TXs), and leukotrienes (LTs), but also give rise to lipoxins (LXs) and resolvins that have potent anti-inflammatory actions. Furthermore, EFAs and their metabolites may function as endogenous angiotensin-converting enzyme and 3-hdroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, nitric oxide (NO) enhancers, anti-hypertensives, and anti-atherosclerotic molecules. Recent studies revealed that EFAs react with NO to yield respective nitroalkene derivatives that exert cell-signaling actions via ligation and activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors. The metabolism of EFAs is altered in several diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, and cancer. Thus, EFAs and their derivatives have varied biological actions and seem to be involved in several physiological and pathological processes.

----

Also, I think where Missy M and the others are talking past one another is on whether trans fatty acids are healthful or not. If that was her point, then I'd like to see a link supporting that. I apologize for prematurely calling her on that point.

[Karenca]

53. ......

''I'd like to see a link supporting that.''

You might as well consume arsenic. Google trans fat.

This is the first page that shows up on Google:

Revealing Trans Fats
FDA consumer article provides awareness of the risk posed by consuming too much saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol.
www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2003/503_fats.html - 25k - Cached - Similar pages
FDA Acts to Provide Better Information to Consumers on Trans Fats
FDA Acts to Provide Better Information to Consumers on Trans Fats.
www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/transfat/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages
Trans fat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trans fats from partially hydrogenated oils are generally considered to be ... Trans fats occur naturally in the milk and body fat of ruminants (such as ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat - 94k - Cached - Similar pages
Ban Trans Fats: The Campaign to Ban Partially Hydrogenated Oils
Advocacy site urging the banning of trans fatty acids. Contains consumer and product news and information on trans fats.
www.bantransfats.com/ - 113k - Cached - Similar pages
Trans Fat Overview
Effective Jan. 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires food companies to list trans fat content separately on the Nutrition Facts panel of ...
www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4776 - 44k - Dec 4, 2006 - Cached - Similar pages
Trans-Fat: What Exactly is it, and Why is it so Dangerous?
Trans fat has been making headlines as consumers become aware that the artery-clogging fat is lurking in many food products. Find out the details of why ...
www.mercola.com/2003/jul/19/trans_fat.htm - 43k - Cached - Similar pages
Trans Fats 101 - Feature Story - University of Maryland Medicine
UMMS feature story about Trans Fats. Increase your understanding of trans fatty acids and harmful artificial fats.
www.umm.edu/features/transfats.html - 27k - Cached - Similar pages
FDA/CFSAN - Trans Fat Now Listed with Saturated Fat and ...
Consumer information on the new trans fat labeling requirements.
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/transfat.html - 37k - Cached - Similar pages
FDA/CFSAN - Questions and Answers about Trans Fat Nutrition Labeling
Questions and Answers about the trans fat nutrition labeling rule.
www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qatrans2.html - 48k - Cached - Similar pages
Nutrition Action Healthletter - Special Feature - Trans Fat
Article provide consumers with recommendations for avoiding trans fats when eating out.
www.cspinet.org/nah/6_99/transfat3.html - 20k - Cached - Similar pages

[SlavesandBulldozers]

43. lol

:spray: :patriot:

[The Backlash Cometh]

25. People make mistakes all the time.

I had a friend who insisted on slopping her dinner rolls in the uncooked marinaded steak juice just because her daddy did.

[Missy M]

26. So I guess the government should warn us all not to eat...

dinner rolls slopped in uncooked marinaded steak juice. Is your friend still alive? Did her daddy die from doing that?

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. Her daddy died young. Yes.

I don't know the reason, however. Could have been the cigarettes, could have been the drinking, could have been the high red meat diet. They didn't have warnings on labels back then.

[On the Road]

57. You Do Realize That This is a Classic Republican Laissez-Faire Argument

I'm a little surprised to see it here.

It is not a matter of choosing transfat over unsaturated fat. It is a matter of food service establishments making a convenient choice that is invisible to their customers but is harmful to their health. Cholesterol is a huge public health issue, and this is a major contributor.

[PaulaFarrell]

60. You're right that shit happens

especially in a meat-packing plant. It's all over the place, including the meat, FDA approval or no.

[dipsydoodle]

17. EVERYTHING HAS GOT OUT OF HAND

This is dedicated to
Those Born 1930-1979!

TO ALL THE
KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when werode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because .

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day.

And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video gamesat all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound, CD's or Ipods, no cell phones!, no personal computers , no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside
and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,
made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them . CONGRATULATIONS!

[Missy M]

20. Thank you for the post.....

as a child I had no desire to drink bleach, eat aspirin or any such thing, nor did my children and there were no safety caps. I rode a bicycle every day without a helmet and I'm still here and so are my children. The one thing I agree with are car seats for children, in this day and age with so many vehicles on the roads and they do save lifes. The rest of it is getting out of hand with all the laws and regulations.

[quiet.american]

22. Hear, hear! Thanks for the memories, lol! n/t

[iverglas]

32. yeah, I'm one of them

I broke a leg -- femur, clean in half -- and spent 3 months in hospital at the age of 8 and still suffer PTSD that began when I was confined in a room (traction) where a tyrannical nun had control over every aspect of my life, from the mashed prunes I was forced to eat to the resulting bowel movements, where I was allowed no visitors except my parents for one hour a day, where I was forced to eat fish on Fridays that made me ill, where I and my family were berated and belittled and treated as miserably as you can imagine, and after which I never quite fitted back into the public school class I had been away from for a whole term, and have lived with a terror of confinement and all the other little gewgahs that come with traumatic stress for the 4+ decades since ...

... all because there was a municipal park with a play structure so unsafe it would never be permitted anywhere in North America in the last two decades.

And then when I grew up and became a lawyer and set about trying to help other people suffering the injustices meted out against them by people with undeserved power over them (tenants and refugees, mainly), I had a client who once had four children and then had none ...

... because she got into a road accident in the station wagon in which she was transporting them, all under the age of 5, unsecured in the cargo area of the vehicle, and they all flew around the vehicle smashing their bodies and heads into things until they were dead.

We used to spend a lot of time mucking about in the creek, completely free of adult supervision and interference, near my suburban home in southern Ontario; my brother especially spend a lot of time right in the creek, with our dog, who drank a lot of the water. The dog died of cancer. Years later, we learned that a factory upstream had been dumping PCBs into the creek for a long time ...

... and my old neighbourhood has an odd cluster of cancers, including the one that killed the kid my brother used to play with, at the age of about 30.

My brother's melanoma? Well, he got a lot of sun. Maybe even more than what my dad got back in the 30s ... but then maybe that had nothing to do with the melanoma that killed him three years ago.

Yup, those were the good old days for kids.

[Karenca]

37. Your post

is so sad and beautiful at the same time.

I'm sorry you had so much suffering. I also lost my mom and my brother to cancer,
which was linked to asbestos in our apartment.

NYC is taking the correct action to limit dangerous chemical
consumption in our foods.

Let's hope NY sets a standard and the rest of the country follows suit.

[iverglas]

40. ah, asbestos

A bad one.

And just like the big corps pushing trans fats, the Canadian government is still -- I know, it's hard to believe -- backing the corps that are pushing asbestos.

Several years ago I had to do some work related to Canada's WTO action against France for barring the importation of Cdn chrysotile asbestos, and just yesterday in the House of Commons (I have to listen to the debates for work, too):

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): ... For all those people who think asbestos is banned in this country, I am here to say that asbestos is not banned in this country at all. I used to work in the asbestos mines as a young and foolish man. I can say that they were lying to us about the health hazards of asbestos then and they continue to lie to us about the health hazards of asbestos today.

I call the asbestos industry corporate serial killers. I do not hesitate to do that. The asbestos industry is the tobacco industry's evil twin because both of them have made a fortune in the last century by pushing a product that they know full well kills people and hiding behind fabricated research, tainted research, cover-ups, falsehoods and lies about the health hazard.

It is bad enough that the asbestos industry itself is lying to workers, its own employees, its own industry and to people around the world, but the Government of Canada feels some obligation to be the handmaiden to the asbestos industry and, as I say, to be globe trotting propagandists and spending millions of dollars artificially supporting and subsidizing an industry that is killing millions of people nationally and internationally.

Now that the government has done its dirty work for the asbestos industry in Geneva last week, it will be another two years before we have the chance to get asbestos back on that list. I am concerned that there will not be a Rotterdam Convention in two years when the next biannual meeting is convened because we have seriously jeopardized the integrity of the whole convention by allowing commercial considerations to override the health considerations around which that convention was first established.

Of the 90 countries that were in attendance in Geneva last week, only 8 countries supported Canada's position. The chair of the Rotterdam Convention introduced the subject on day one saying that chrysotile asbestos was a sensitive issue and that there have been difficulties with it before. He suggested that we follow the four point framework to assess the health hazard and to review the science.

Before the chair of the committee could even finish speaking, the Canadian delegation rushed to the microphones and said, “we don't need to waste our time. We move that asbestos not be put on the list”. Because that international institution runs by consensus, everyone has a veto. As soon as Canada set the tone by being rude and ignoring the international diplomatic protocols of courtesy at one of those conferences, that set the tone. ...

Astestos, trans fats ... same bill of goods, different goods.


... oh lordy, speaking of debates ... I just got this, which affects my work load tomorrow:

December 1, 2006 — The Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform — That this House call on the government to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages.

Talk about same bill of goods ...


Thank you for your kind words, and my sympathy (and anger) for your losses as well. (My brother's melanoma has been successfully treated, but I gotta find out what he's doing about the genetic testing to find out whether we've got that to worry about as well as the tendency to cardiac blockages that actually killed my dad while he was dying of metastacized melanoma ... mercifully ... but that, hey, a little less trans fat in the diet might help prevent.) (edit: sorry, I realize I wasn't clear that my dad was the one who had the terminal cancer.)

I've spent a lot of time rummaging around old English censuses and vital statistics in the last year, doing genealogy research. The fact is that a lot of kids in the olden days simply didn't live long enough to die of a lot of the things we worry about now. The fact that we aren't worrying about the things they died of, quite so much, is because somebody did worry and did do something about them. And that's a good thing.

[unblock]

38. note the selectivity of addressing this to those who SURVIVED

to hell with the dead people who died from preventable causes!

:sarcasm:

[Towelie]

63. Whenever I see an obese, indolent, and/or mentally incapable child with no wisdom or common sense

it always makes me sad because I know his life could be completely different if it weren't for attitudes like yours.

[iverglas]

65. gratuitous and completely unfounded insult?

I'd say so.

Certainly no worthwhile contribution to any discussion of any issue.

[greccogirl]

41. Okay. No fair making

me long for days gone by..................

[Blue_Tires]

51. lol

yes some survived, but the fact is a whole lot of people DIDN'T survive pregnant mothers that smoked or drank heavily, not wearing a seatbelt, etc etc....and longing for the days of leaded paint? JFC....

granted, I've got this e-mail several times over the years, and there are a couple of things I obviously agree with, but the rest is bunk....some people survived the Plague, too---let's bring those days back:eyes:

[iverglas]

ha, thanks

I usually suspect things like that are not entirely original, but I didn't google that one.

I'll hold on to my response and use it if I ever get the stupid email. ;)

[Knurled99]

59. You can eat all the fatty food you want

But the restaurants can't save a dollar by poisoning your food with extra fat anymore. Your food will not taste or look any different- it'll just have more healthy fats instead of trans fats.

[beth9999]

64. Agree. Today...

... they tell me that I can't make my french fries the way I want to. Next thing you know, the Repugs will be telling me how much sugar I have to put into my lemon cookies.

Stay out of my kitchen you damn Repugs!

[wuushew]

68. Are you running YOUR kitchen as a business to other people?

Regulation based on science seems to agree more with people than non-existent libertarian utopias.

[lakercub]

70. And I am sick,sick,sick

of trans-fats that are much cheaper than real food (and terrible for the body) being put in food. And I am sick,sick,sick of people whining "nanny-state" about stuff like this when trans-fats are a huge cause of obesity, which, in turn, is a MASSIVE cost to taxpayers. All the heart disease and other obesity related ailments that require massive insurance outlays are a huge cost to all of us. Instead of worrying about your right to a cheeseburger with fries (which is not infringed upon, you can make one whenever you want) think about my rights when people unknowingly eat this crap, and, over time, get sick and cost us all a fortune.

Your right to eat whatever you want does affect me, whether you like it or not.

[Karenca]

3. Thanks, DM Mom. k&r . nt

[bluestateguy]

4. Michael Bloomberg is a big government Republican

He bans smoking and trans fats, randomly searches subway passengers, favors confiscatory gun control and sets up police state patrols for the (R) national convention.

[formercia]

5. Death from Congestive heart Failure rises Nationally

soon afterwords.

[Igel]

9. You'd think that a regulatory agency would need

some additional authority granted to them to do something like this.

So if they wanted to ban eggs or olive oil tomorrow, they'd be able to just take a vote and no more omelettes or pesto? Or they could ban some compound--say guanine--and watch people scramble to identify the foods that contain it? (Ok, so guanine's an extreme example.)

[DemExpat]

11. Foods will taste just as delicious with healthier fats

Great initiative here IMO.

DemEx

[NuttyFluffers]

54. it'll taste better.

butter, regular oils, ghee, etc. all taste better than shortening. it just does. and all cuisines -- with the possible exception of modern american "microwave cuisine" -- were based on older, less processed lipids, which have a far lower melting point (and thus flush out of your system far faster), far more complex flavor compounds, and far more established history in humanity (and therefore tried and true cooking technology). several friends graduated from cooking schools and bakers and chefs are all but appalled about using hydrogenated fats, if they don't have to. hydrogenated fats are good for one thing, and one thing only: mass production. but the food quality dips tremendously due to the poor qualities associated to hydrogenated fats.

wholly supportive of this measure. it'd make NYC food taste better, foster fresher foods instead of obscene mass production and thus obscene waste (due to health codes), and make it even a better place to attract tourists. i can only find flaw in the desire of certain people to have bad tasting pastries with disgusting cheap frosting. outside of this unfortunate group everyone else will be incredibly pleased with this change.

[Odin2005]

12. Good.

I am generally against "nany-statism, but this is a necessary exception. Certain ingredients, like trans-fats and HFCS need to be restricted because corporations over-use them to increase thier profits to the detriment of public health. If corporations had thier way we would have no choice in the matter because they would stuff unhealthy crap in ALL out food just to make more $$$.

[WindRavenX]

31. Good point

Besides, just because something doesn't have transfat doesn't magically make it health food either-- you can still happily eat yourself to an early grave.

Just get this shit out of the food supply. And I would <3 to see HFC use to severely curtailed.

[unblock]

39. hfcs is particularly annoying because it's a tax-created problem

why are used instead of sugar? you have to process corn in order to separate out the corn syrup, then you have to process that in order to artificially boost the fructose content. you would think the extra processing means extra cost, and you'd be correct.

however, thanks to the insane lobbying influence of mega-agricultural giant adm, corn is heavily subsidized and sugar is not.

so voila, hfcs is cheaper than sugar.

[closeupready]

13. I'm fine with this.

All parties seem to agree that trans fats are bad. Additionally, I think the transition will be phased in over time. Also, it will not apply to prepared goods like chips or cookies - just to restaurant food.

Also, you will not be prohibited from eating trans fats - you will still be able to buy it in the supermarket.

What's to object to?

[NotGivingUp]

14. hooray for them! i wish they would do it everywhere.

[NotGivingUp]

15. i wish they would also ban msg & every form of it, and aspartame

[iverglas]

34. well, I'm for banning lots of stuff, including what this rule will do

I'm msg-sensitive, as I discovered back around 1970 before anybody knew what it was. And nobody needs trans fats in their restaurant food any more than they need mouse feces.

But aspartame? Sorry. That, you can make a choice about. Don't buy stuff with aspartame in it. And leave my diabetic partner to enjoy the things he could never eat or drink were it not for aspartame. Sugar kills sometimes too, y'know.

You might want to cut both of them out of your diet, but not everybody does!

[NotGivingUp]

49. please...tell your partner to do some research and get off the aspartame.

it's absolutely terrible stuff and adding to his problems. he can use stevia instead. msg and aspartame...both excitotoxins...should be avoided. msg is in practically all processed foods and hides under many other names, too. you can find a lot of info on this on the internet.

[iverglas]

61. sorry, nope

I wasn't born yesterday, and we have done our homework on his disease (diagnosed 4 years ago at the age of 50), and I don't need advice about finding information, and I am not particularly gullible. Rest easy though -- I cook from scratch. Chili is your friend. Well, I do buy the bread/pasta products. Not a baker, me ... when I occasionally try, it takes weeks to get the flour off the floor, the light fixtures ... the cats ... . Sadly, Splenda makes us both gag, so there's no baking that could be done anyhow to speak of, other than the odd bit that can be done with a little phyllo & fruit. Nutrient labelling and super-high-fibre tortillas/pasta are our saviours.

The odds of someone with Type I diabetes dying from the effects of aspartame in his/her coffee (and the odd dish of my very own cheesey de-lite dessert: cottage cheese, gelatin, cocoa/fruit, some graham crumbs and yup, some aspartame; yum yum, you can close your eyes and almost think it's cheesecake) vs. any of the complications of the disease, or any of the other complications of life, are pretty slim.

[NotGivingUp]

66. yeah...that's the sorry state of things...

it's back to cooking from scratch to avoid msg. i was absolutely floored to read about all the other names that msg is hidden under, and when I looked at everything in the store, i'd say about 90% of all the processed products contained msg. i am still adjusting to the cooking everything from scratch scenario. i enjoy cooking, but it does take time out of the day.

[iverglas]

69. tricks of the trade

When cooking from scratch, do it assembly-line and in advance. I spend most Saturday mornings getting ready for the week. (I'm also working late most nights these days, so there are many reasons to be organized.) Rituals: I cook, he watches soccer. I spend the afternoon visiting my friend next door, he spends it washing the pots and cleaning up behind me.

Also, you save on utilities / greenhouse gases -- cook several things at once in an oven, reuse your utensils and containers as you go along. And electricity is cheap and plentiful on weekends (or in the later evening, if that's a better time for a weekly blitz), so if or when we have those smart meters, there will be another reason for this.

Shop in some bulk, and get what's on sale that week, and get what you need when it's on sale. I watch the flyers and when I run low, I hit whatever store has skinless boneless chicken breasts on half price and clean them out. Make sure you have all staples -- canned tomatoes and frozen spinach (both of those are better for you than fresh), onions, cheese -- always on hand.

A freezer full of chili in yogurt containers, burritos (wash and reuse the zip bags over and over), spaghetti sauce, stew, soup, lasagna, moussaka -- which can all be cooked in the oven, more than one at once, rather than stovetop -- take out in the morning to thaw, microwave at night, make a salad if it's low on veg. A fried rice prepared on Saturday morning (more mushrooms, onions, celery, red pepper, ginger, garlic and nuts than rice) gets the leftover Sunday roast beef or turkey (a turkey can be made into a multitude of wonderful things) added to it for dinner on Tuesday. Casseroles of all varieties are the only way to go; they'll keep in the fridge for a few days, and often be the better for it.

This morning, knowing I had a late night coming up, I slept in and then assembled the grilled cheese sandwiches and made the gazpacho (that I hadn't bothered making on the wknd -- tomatoes, cucumber, celery, onions, lots of garlic and olive oil and red wine vinegar, 10 minutes max to make) for tonight. The end of the week is for quick meals like that, or for pulling something out of the freezer.

If you want any recipes, PM me and I'll be happy to share! I have a saag chicken -- spinach, tomatoes, yogurt, mmmm -- that's especially yummy, and other Indian dishes, like Mexican ones, often involve beans (try the daal soup) so they're good and good for you.

I am not a person that anyone would suspect of being an enthusiastic cook, but I come out of communal spaghetti dinners in the hippy late 60s and another year of sharing digs with a Chinese friend who grew up in her parents' restaurant, so it was acquired by osmosis. And I'm always quite amazed at people who don't know how to cook. Last christmas, I found myself giving complete strangers in the grocery store -- who were at least my age -- directions for how to make turkey stuffing so they could feed their newly vegetarian offspring (i.e. by making it outside the turkey). They'd discovered that all the boxed stuffings had chicken powder. Yech -- and a pound of salt, in my experience. Bread stuffing, the base element of anglo cooking, and people don't know how to make it any more!

[kestrel91316]

21. Trans fats are NOT food. They are a manufactured chemical.

They certainly don't belong on the list of "Generally Recognized As Safe" food additives, IMHO, because they aren't safe. They are known to cause MAJOR health problems and death.

I applaud NYC for this. If people want to prepare their OWN food with this crap at home, fine. Just don't prepare it and SELL it to people for PROFIT.

[BadgerKid]

44. self-removed.

[w4rma]

23. Are they punishing restaurants for informing customers about calories?

…
Some that choose to inform customers about calorie content will have to list the information right on the menu. The rule would generally apply to fast-food restaurants and other major chains.

Sheila Weiss, director of nutritional policy for the Restaurant Association, said the rule would be a disincentive for restaurants to provide any nutritional information.
…

**This** is antiproductive. I think its fine that they are banning trans-fat, but THIS is stupid.

[Beaverhausen]

28. Excellent! I hope Los Angeles does this too!

[BadgerKid]

45. FYI: the PubMed search engine

Great index of abstracts to scientifc/medical articles. Use it; it's our tax money. :toast:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed

[nicknameless]

48. Also: FDA allows foods containing <.5 gram trans fat per serving to be labeled 0 trans fat.

So Doritos, etc. chips aren't really trans fat-free, the FDA just lets them be labeled that way.
You need to check the fine print on the package, which contains more detailed information.

As has been pointed out, many people consume more than 1 "serving" at a time, so their consumption of trans fat can be far from "zero".

http://www.bantransfats.com/newlabeling.html

Starting January 1, 2006, all packaged foods must list trans fat content on their Nutrition Facts labels.

<snip>

But watch out! There are two major problems with the new label, as noted below.

1. Under FDA regulations, "if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram , the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero."

Suppose you eat one serving of Product A, one serving of Product B, and one serving of Product C. Let's assume that each product contains 0.4 grams per serving. You have just consumed 1.2 grams of trans fat, despite the fact that each of the labels claims that the products contain zero grams of trans fat per serving!

And http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051205/NEWS32/512030320

The problem is one of servings, said Dr. Camargo, who's also a member of 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. After all, who among us eats just three Oreos, the standard serving size? Gobble up several servings of many foods and you may have quickly consumed a hefty amount of trans fat, he argues.

"Since the recommended that the amount of trans fat intake be 'as low as possible,' in other words, less than 1 percent of total calories or less than 2 grams per day, it's not hard to see how the 'fake-zero' foods could create problems in an otherwise healthy diet," he said. "Over the course of the day, if you have five servings of 0.4 gram trans fat products, this would put you at the daily intake limit ... the FDA should require both the food and restaurant industries to label their products accurately so that consumers can make truly informed choices."

[NotGivingUp]

50. yes, i've heard about this before. they should get rid of this loophole.

[KDLarsen]

55. Trans fat was banned over here 3½ years ago

An english translation of the law text is available here: http://www.tfx.org.uk/page116.html

I'm not really in the mood to add to discussion, given that it's too early for me to form any sensible sentences ;)

[On the Road]

58. So Denmark is Transfat Free, Hmmm?

Were there any negative repercussions? Anyone complaining? Or is it just business as usual and everyone's forgotten about it?

[KDLarsen]

62. Business as usual I think

I seem to remember that there was an article on this issue earlier, where they interviewed some danish people at a McDonald's (or something like that), and none of them could tell any difference between trans fat & non trans fat. Looking at the Danish parliament site on this issue, even the food industry agreed that it would be good to ban it, as long as they were allowed to advertise with their products being "trans fat free", provided it was backed by independent research.

I've had a long day at uni, so I think I'll postpone any further research into this until tomorrow.

[DuaneBidoux]

67. Too much for me, sorry.