http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061212/COL0803/6121203
07/1292/health

'No trans fat' doesn't always mean healthy

By Kathy Warwick
kwarwick@canufly.net

New York City Bans Trans Fat In Restaurants!" This was a big headline
last week, and the media is buzzing about the move by the New York City
Board of Health.

As a nutrition professional, I can agree trans fats will raise the
level of bad cholesterol and lower the level of good cholesterol in the
blood. We are all aware high cholesterol levels can increase the risk
of heart disease. On the other hand, I think the Health Department may
have missed the boat if its intention was to decrease rates of obesity
in the city and impact health care costs.

Restaurants will be asked to replace the trans fats in their menus with
more heart-healthy fats such as peanut oil, canola oil or olive oil.
Even these heart-healthy oils contain a lot of calories - in fact, the
same number of calories per measure as the trans fats. One tablespoon
of any oil has 120 calories. Therefore, restaurants can still serve
very high-calorie, high-fat menu items. Obesity is caused by taking in
more calories than we burn up with exercise and daily activity, no
matter where we get the extra calories. If we eat too much organic
health food and we don't exercise, we will gain weight over time.

Most cookies, crackers, baked goods, chips and snack foods have been
produced with trans fat because it helps keep these foods from getting
stale on the grocery store shelf.

Now manufacturers are looking for a fat to substitute for trans fat in
these products. Many are using other saturated fats such as coconut
oil, palm oil or real butter. Because they contain saturated fats,
these snacks can raise your cholesterol levels and may have lots of
calories. The average consumer sees the packaging with "No Trans Fat"
in bold letters and assumes he or she can eat as much of this "healthy"
snack food as desired.

One New York restaurant owner was quoted as saying, "In this country,
there are so many obese people. It is really a disgrace. When I was
growing up in France, my mother never gave me a French fry. We don't
have a fryer here in the restaurant, we just saute our potatoes in real
butter."

This statement just goes to prove how confused everyone really is when
it comes to the fat debate. Real butter is a saturated fat. If I cook
all my low-calorie vegetables in butter or bacon grease, they become
high-calorie and can raise my cholesterol, but they can be labeled "no
trans fat."

When we take in more calories (from any source) than we burn up, we
will gain weight. Obesity is a risk factor for diabetes, heart disease
and cancer. Banning trans fat from restaurant menus will do little, if
anything, to decrease obesity. Until individuals take some personal
responsibility for cutting calories and increasing activity, obesity
levels will continue to rise. Waiting for the government to legislate
us into good health is pure folly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kathy Warwick is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator
and nutrition consultant. Write to her in care of HealthScene, The
Clarion-Ledger, Box 40, Jackson MS 39205-0040 or e-mail,
kwarwick@canufly.net.

*********

Interesting. The restaurant owner says clearly that here in the US,
there are so many obese people. Then he says that they don't eat french
fries (a lot of carbs), but they eat a lot of food, including potatoes,
sauteed in butter. He did not mention that they don't eat all their
meals with a half gallon jug of hfcs soda.

So the french eat a high animal-fat diet with little refined carbs and
they are less obese and more healthy than the americans eating
generally lower fat and higher carb diets.

And she tries to infer that the restaurant owner is confused about
calories. Calories mean squat in the face of a diet full of highly
processed crap carbs and fake fats.

TC