In 2003, a California attorney named Stephen Joseph sued Kraft Foods over the amount of trans fats in their Oreo cookies. He was the laughingstock of late-night television. Four years later, multinational corporations from Kraft to McDonald’s have pulled trans fat from their products and New York City is poised to ban usage of trans fat in all food sold within the city limits, with our own Queen City moving to follow suit.
With heart disease reaching epidemic proportions and films like Super-Size Me and Fast Food Nation calling attention to the consequences of unhealthy eating, health officials are calling trans fat completely avoidable, and are working to remove it from Americans’ diets.
The bill to ban trans fat in New York City, sponsored by New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, was passed by a unanimous vote by the New York City Board of Health in December. The main focus of the bill, which will be exercised as law in July of this year and completed by 2008, is to prohibit city restaurants from the sale of food items containing trans fats and to require that restaurants provide information pertaining to calories, fat, and sodium content to their customers up front. This puts restaurant owners in a pinch to find adequate replacements, and consumers wondering just what trans fats are.
In an interview with National Public Radio, Dr. Thomas Frieden, Health Commisioner of New York City, reported, “Artificial trans fat is…chemically altered vegetable oil. It was initially thought that it might be healthier, but it turns out it’s even less healthy than saturated fat. It’s the most dangerous type of fat.” When asked why the city decided to ban trans fats rather than simply warn citizens of their health risks, Frieden responded, “People don’t choose trans fat. It’s something that’s used in food preparation, but it can be replaced.”
Dr. John Corbelli, of the Buffalo Cardiology and Pulmonary Association, defines trans fat as a product that results from “the food industry hydrogenating oils, which are of course liquid, to make them solid.” In other words, trans fats make all your favorite snack items, like microwavable popcorn, donuts, and store-bought cake, last longer on store shelves, in vending machines, and in the cupboard. Corbelli says trans fat is “a fat that going to be more likely to clog up your arteries.”
According to the assembly information pertaining to the bill, “Obesity rates in adults doubled over the last twenty years. The percentage of seriously overweight children tripled in the past two decades.” These kinds of figures have spurred lawmakers and business owners alike into action.
In an effort to join the movement to ban the unhealthy bi-product, national chain restaurants such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s, and local eatery Solé, have decided to cut down on trans fats or eliminate them altogether. The Marriott and Omni hotel chains have also decided to cut back on trans fats in their food.
But the bill has been met with a great deal of resistance among restaurants in New York City. Why eliminate trans fats instead of smoking, for example, another top killer of Americans. According to Frieden, the New York City Health Association has no intention on changing personal preferences, “but artificial trans fat is different. It doesn’t belong in our food supply.”
E. Charles Hunt, Executive Vice President of the New York State Restaurant Association, is not so sure. “They [the NYC Board of Health] are going way beyond the scope of an appointed agency,” he told the New York Times. Hunt’s group represents about 3,500 restaurants in New York City, and he has doubts over the effectiveness of the bill. “Many of the things that restaurants use are prepared by somebody else,” he said. “They may not be willing to suit the specifications of just New York City.”
According to the Board of Health, about half of the restaurants that received information about the trans fat ban from the Board of Health via mail still continued to include the ingredient in food.
Janice Cochran, a nutritionist from Wellness Education Services at UB, said she understands that with the proposal of a trans fat ban, “the government is trying to help public health,” but added, “it certainly is not a solution.” Cochran explained that there are many factors that play a role in the country’s food dilemmas, and that “everyone needs to realize there are other harmful components in food, mainly saturated fat.”
Felix Ortiz was also eager to promote further change. “Although this is an important initiative, it is only the first step in the right direction,” he says. “It will take much more work to decrease the obesity rate and improve the health of our citizens.”
Cities and even states across the nation are taking a cue from New York City’s ban, and Buffalo recently joined the crowd. Last week, the Buffalo Common Council considered a trans fat ban in the city, a proposal spearheaded by Legislator Demone Smith. The Council is holding off on a decision, however, until it can be decided if a countywide ban, as opposed to a citywide ban, can be enforced. That would be vastly preferable, to prevent competition between city and suburban restaurants and because the city has no Health Department; only Erie County does.
One option is to simply wait and see how New York City implements their ban, which may save Buffalo a lot of time and money. Proponents think that this bill needs immediate implementation, however. It was mentioned at the council meeting that Western New York has startling health statistics, such as the fact residents of Niagara County are hospitalized for heart disease at twice the rate of the national average. WNY’s rate of stroke deaths is also stratospheric—residents die three times more often than their New York City counterparts, and those residing in the 14203 zip code have two times as many strokes as the rest of the state. These facts have left many calling for a healthier Buffalo.
Of course, this isn’t the first time a change in diet has promised to revolutionize our bodies. As television, magazines, and other media outlets race to provide the public with the latest weight loss solutions, we are bombarded with a ballooning number of solutions, remedies, and fads. It was not too long ago that low-carb diets such as South Beach, Atkins, and Zone transformed America into a carbohydrate fearing people.
Even though there is an effort on both the state and local levels to promote healthy eating, there are common misconceptions surrounding the new bill. Many people who decide to go to the restaurants that have done away with trans fats may be under the impression that all items on the menu are now healthy. Not true; the foods still weigh in with high caloric values, cholesterol, and sodium. Cochran says that many food companies are proudly boasting that their products are sans trans fat, but make foods that are still just as unhealthy.
Despite all the discussion and legislation, there appears to be no simple answer to this emerging problem. As long as there are outside pressures to invade the mentalities of Americans, there will be efforts to jump on the bandwagon of the latest food craze. It may be in the best interest of New York State, and of the entire nation, to instill in both the young and old a complete lifestyle change. In Cochran’s words, “There are many influences that make it difficult to negotiate what we should be doing in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
It is clear there is an ongoing effort to remove those influences, but only time will tell if they are effective.
