Dec. 31, 2006
 
COMMENTARY: Eating Trans Fat, Or Eating Too Much?
 
By M.J. Andersen
The Providence Journal
 
I have always liked "trans" words. Transatlantic; transistor; transformation. They seem to suggest things glamorous, useful and good. Why then would "trans fat" stand for something bad? Alas, most of us have heard by now that the verdict is negative, even if we do not quite know why, or even where all these trans fats are hiding. Do they attack at night? Lodge in your hair? Cling to your toenails? One can surface only so many times to grasp the latest news-born threat in any kind of comprehensive way. Ask the average person, and he or she would probably guess French fries are the leading bearers of trans fats. But really, is there any average person?
 
I was dismayed to learn that trans fats had been lurking for years in the cookie and cracker aisle of the grocery store. Cookies are nature's perfect food. And crackers go under the cheese entrie you eat before you are allowed to have cookies.
 
Whither the responsible diner?
 
The food police would probably have us eat fresh lettuce or spinach instead. But lately, leafy greens have not been living up to their image. Growers seem to be lobbing the stuff out of California while crossing their fingers. You never know which bag of romaine harbors sketchy microbes. "Hey, watch me eat this salad!" has replaced "Look Ma no hands" for cheap household thrills.
 
But back to trans fats. They want us dead, researchers say. In defiance, New York City has gone ahead and banned all but tiny traces, the first such ban imposed by any large city in the nation.
 
The reason: The city and its health-nut mayor, Michael Bloomberg, are worried about your heart. Trans fats increase the bad cholesterol that can lead to heart disease. They also lower so-called good cholesterol. According to a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, eliminating most trans fats from Americans' diets could reduce heart disease by up to 19 percent a year.
 
Trans fats are found in both fried food and baked goods. Though some occur naturally in animal products, most arise from a process that turns liquid vegetable oil solid. On the package, the words "partially hydrogenated" are your clue to run away. (I'd save time, and just look for the word "partially.")
 
French fries, it turns out, are not the No. 1 culprit. Fully 40 percent of the trans fats American adults ingest comes from baked goods-cakes, pies, cookies, bread. Only 5 percent comes from the beloved potato-chip family of snacks; just 8 percent is from fried potatoes.
 
Actually, many processed food manufacturers have already moved to delete trans fats from their products, inviting a cautious return to the cookie aisle. They were brought around by federal rules that, beginning this year, forced trans fats simply to be listed on the label.
 
But the New York ban (which does allow a tiny bit of trans fat to creep in) targets restaurants. It vexes chefs, who say customers like the taste of foods fried in these oils -- also that the oils can be reused. Foods made with trans fats have a longer shelf life, too.
 
Yet some restaurant chains, forgetting that New York is the center of the world, had already forged ahead on their own. Ruby Tuesday and Wendy's have switched to other types of cooking oil. Kentucky Fried Chicken plans to make the switch this spring.
 
People will eventually vote with their taste buds. Some restaurants will go back to good old-fashioned saturated fats, which come largely from animals, and are not especially heart-friendly (though, unlike trans fats, they have not been found to hamper good cholesterol). But others will switch to soy-based, olive and other healthier oils, and make it work.
 
The restaurant industry could decide to sue the City of New York. But other cities, such as Chicago, are eyeing a ban. In Massachusetts, legislation proposing a statewide ban has been introduced. Denmark severely limited the use of trans fats in processed foods three years ago.
 
My guess is that trans fats will eventually go down without much fuss, the way lead paint did. At that point, the family that keeps a can of Crisco on hand will seem provocative, and faintly naughty. The mere sight will fill those Baby Boomers who have not yet died of heart attacks with nostalgia.
 
Also, at that dreary point, one and all will be back to talking about the real problem, which is that we eat too much. In the end it is still about all the calories in the doughnut, and not about how it is fried. Transforming the way we fry may be a victory, but it is bound to be transitory.
 
M.J. Andersen is a member of The Providence Journal's editorial board. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com