It is common knowledge that America has a weight problem; recent statistics show that 60 percent of adult Americans and 17 percent of children and teens are overweight. It is less commonly known, however, that coronary heart disease causes more than 500,000 deaths each year, making it one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and not all who die from CHD are overweight.
Scientific evidence shows that consumption of trans fat raises "bad cholesterol" levels and therefore increases the risk of CHD. In the past few years, trans fat has been getting more and more negative press, and starting Jan. 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration required that trans fat be listed on the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels.
Trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil in order to increase the shelf life and flavor of certain foods. Many popular foods contain trans fats including crackers, cookies, fried foods, chips, candy bars and cakes.
Although the law to require listing trans fat on food labels is helpful to many Americans who wish to avoid them in order to keep their hearts healthy, it does not change the risk that many Americans face when choosing to eat out.
Americans love to dine at restaurants because, let's face it — having someone else prepare your meal is much easier than doing it yourself. When you choose to eat in a restaurant, however, you give up your ability to decide what goes into your food, and restaurants don't always provide the healthiest food choices. They are naturally much more interested in making food that tastes good than food that is healthy for the consumer.
Well, now perhaps both the chef and the customer can be happy. Recently, New York City adopted the nation's first major municipal ban on artificial trans fats in restaurant cooking. Although chefs objected at first, because they feared that their food would not be as appealing without the use of trans fats, chef Michael S. Schwartz took on the challenge of finding if he could make his food taste just as good, if not better, without trans fats. The challenge was not finding an alternative to trans fat, but finding one that would not change the food. This is a dilemma that the city's more than 20,000 restaurants are currently dealing with.
Mr. Schwartz conducted numerous experiments in which he used Crisco (a trans fat), butter and coconut oil in foods such as tarte tatin, French fries and friend chicken. The results were that, although the tarte and fries looked nicer when made with Crisco, all three foods tasted better when made with coconut oil.
With these positive results, what's stopping the rest of the country from following New York City's example and banning trans fat? Most chain restaurants will already have to change their recipes to comply with the new rules, and there seem to be no negative consequences to removing trans fat from food.
Although some people, such as Mr. Schwartz, see this law as a "blow" to their civil liberties, there is no reason that people should actively want to consume fats proven to lead to heart disease and death. The ban on trans fat may not stop people from consuming high-calorie dishes, and ultimately calorie consumption is a more important factor in obesity than fat consumption, but it will help people who care about the health of their heart to feel better about eating out. The new law will make it easier for those concerned with their health to keep their hearts healthy, and those who are unconcerned will not be affected. I hope that it is only a matter of time until other cities follow New York's example and ban trans fat in restaurants.
Gabbie Wade ([email protected]) is a freshman intending to major in journalism.
