A healthy New York City?

On December 5, New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden announced that restaurants will no longer be allowed to use most frying oils that contain trans fat by July 1, 2007, and they will have until July 2008 to eliminate their use of trans fat from all foods served. Is this a good thing? Of course!

The Board of Health passed the trans fat ban unanimously, and thus made New York the first city in the USA to ban artificial trans fats at restaurants, which includes everything from a corner deli to the high-end bakeries.

The restaurant industry originally complained that the old deadline was much too soon and restaurants would be unable to respond to the changes in such a short time span. After thought by the Board of Health, the deadline was pushed back to accommodate the wishes of the restaurants.

According to an article in the Washington Post, artificial trans fat is the most dangerous fat in modern diet; it sends up the level cholesterol, which increases the risk of heart disease.

Restaurants have until July 1 to switch to oils, margarines, and shortenings used for frying and spreading that have less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. In addition, everything else served that is not in the manufacturer’s original packaging has to have less than 0.5 grams of trans fat by July 1, 2008.

To further look out for the health of New Yorkers, the Board of Health now requires restaurants that publicly provide nutritional information to prominently display calorie information on menus. This is mainly aimed at chains that post nutritional data on brochures or posters (such as McDonald’s).

According to the Associated Press, with information compiled from the Food and Drug Administration and the American Heart Association, 40% of trans fat that Americans consume comes from commercial baked goods, such as cakes, cookies, crackers, and doughnuts.

Some complain that they have the right to eat trans fat food as they please. Well, good for them. But do keep in mind, these people are also those who, in 20 years, will be ranting about their right to have access to quadruple bypass surgery as a result of their poor eating habits.

There exists a concern, however, that restaurants will switch to the also undesirable saturated fats. That issue coincides with the call to promote healthier living, and that eliminating trans fat from a diet will not make a person more healthy. The ban on trans fat should be hailed as a large step into a good direction, but there must be more calls for living healthier.

It is appropriate that New York City leads the fight against unhealthy trans fat. It is, after all, named “The Big Apple.” Hopefully it will still taste as good as before.