 1000 Chapel Street New Haven, CT (203) 562-3888 |
"A Vegetarian Restaurant Since 1975"
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Trans Fat Ban in Restaurants? |
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The New York City Health Department made a bold move last month when
it proposed a trans fat ban in restaurants. This proposal was the follow
up to a year long attempt to educate restaurants on the effects of trans
fats in hopes they would voluntarily eliminate them from their cooking.
The voluntary approach didn't work so the government stepped in.
A lot of people get touchy when they hear the government is getting
involved in deciding what we can and cannot eat, but hear me out.
Eliminating trans fats from the prepared foods we eat is such a simple
measure that will absolutely help to reduce heart disease in this
country. And, heart disease is the number one killer!
Researchers have linked heart disease and trans fats for many years.
In 1997, The New England Journal of Medicine published an article
entitled "Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in
Women." This was an exhaustive study, known as the Nurses' Health Study
and was led by the well respected Harvard researcher, Dr. Frank B. Hu.
Over a fourteen year period, 80,082 women were followed and the findings
were clear. Their conclusions were as follows:
"Our findings suggest that replacing saturated and trans unsaturated fats with un-hydrogenated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is more effective in preventing coronary heart disease in women that reducing overall fat intake." (N Engl J Med 1997;337L1491-9)
So, what are trans fats? Trans fats occur during a process called
hydrogenation, whereby monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils are made
into semi-solid fat as in shortening and margarine, by adding hydrogen
molecules. This process produces two types of fats. One is a fully
hydrogenated fats which are fully saturated with hydrogen, and don't
contain trans fats, although these "saturated" fats are also considered
"undesirable fats" and should be limited to less than 10% of our daily
calories. Trans fats occur when the oils are partially hydrogenated and
this type of fat, as with saturated fats is also associated with raising
the LDL (bad cholesterol) blood cholesterol levels, but trans fats also
lower the HDL (good cholesterol) blood cholesterol levels and there is
no room for them in our diet.
Where are the trans fats? Trans fats occur naturally in meat and
dairy products, but this accounts for only about 0ne-fifth of the trans
fats that we consume. The rest comes from shortening, margarine, and in
many of the prepared breads, desserts, crackers, and other prepared
foods that we buy for convenience.
Why do we make partially hydrogenated oils anyway? Hydrogenation
converts and oil into a solid or semi-solid product, making it the ideal
consistency for deep frying, for baking pies crusts, or for spreading on
your morning toast. This process also increases the shelf life which
saves money for manufacturers - and hydrogenated oils are CHEAP.
Do we have any choices? Luckily we do. Many manufacturers have
already reformulated their shortening and margarine recipes to make them
trans fat free, but you need to read labels and when you are eating out,
you need to ask what kind of oils they use and what prepared foods they
buy and serve to you. If an ingredient list includes Partially
hydrogenated oil it has trans fats.
Alternatives include: Earth Balance Buttery Spread, Spectrum Organic
Shortening, and pure extra virgin olive oil, organic soybean oil,
sunflower, and other oils that can be used in baking, confectionary, and
cooking. They all cost more money, but it's still a lot less than
paying for the ill health that trans fats cause. We deserve better and
we need to insist on it.
I say "Great Job" to the New York City Health Department for their
efforts to support better health for everyone who eats out in the more
than 20,000 restaurants in the city. I hope that in the near future
we'll do here what they did in Denmark back in 2003 and outlaw trans
fats in the entire country. Oh yes, according to a recent AP article the
Danish Health Ministry has reported a 20% reduction in cardiovascular
disease in the past five years.
Until then, read before you buy and always ask before you order out.
And, just so you don't think you'll be missing out on desserts, which of course should be only a very small part of your diet, I've included three recipes that call for shortening and spread, but we're using fats that are trans fat free. You can buy trans fat free shortening and spreads in the healthfoods section of the supermarket, at Trader Joe's stores, and at Edge of The Woods in New Haven. |