in the news · ---- michael bloomberg, new york city mayor "would you want the burden of...

700 Furrows Road • Holtsville, NY 11742 • 631-289-8401 • www.jkings.com

In The News

TTrraannss FFaatt--FFrreeee IInn tthhee NNeewwss::

• DDeecceemmbbeerr 22000066 Will Los Angeles be the next trans fat free city? Lawmakers are considering a measure similar to the one in NYC to ban trans fats from restaurantfare!

• DDeecceemmbbeerr 22000066 Trans fats are officially off the menu in New York City. Restaurantsmustremove all trans fats from the food they serve to continue to do business in the bigapple!

• NNoovveemmbbeerr 22000066 Fast food giant Arby's has announced they are removing trans fatfrom their french fries! Taco Bell has already announced they will switch to all trans fatfree cooking oil by spring 2007.

• JJuunnee 22000066 Kraft Food is gradually replacing trans fatty acids in their packaged foodproducts. A serving of Oreos now has zero grams of trans fat. That isn't a license toeat them unchecked, of course; they still have plenty of other fat, sugar and emptycarb calories.

• JJuunnee 22000066 Gotta have your French fries? Consider stopping into Wendys. The fastfood chain is replacing all of their partially hydrogenated frying oil with non-hydro-genated varieties for their fries and breaded chicken food products.

700 Furrows Road • Holtsville, NY 11742 • 631-289-8401 • www.jkings.com

In The News

December 9, 2006

Trans Fats: Will They Get Shelved? December 9, 2006 THE MAIN EVENT

New York City banned restaurants from selling most foods containing anything but trace amounts of trans fats last week.

* * *

The law -- which will be phased in starting in July and puts the city out front in an expanding war against unhealthy diets -- is likely to embolden other communities to ban trans fats, the oils widely found in commercial fried and baked foods that are believed to raise heart-disease risk. Chicago city council members have called for a ban, and the Boston Public Health Commission is mulling a ban.

This is the latest foray by public officials into the eating arena. In recent years, there has been a spate of lawsuits filed against fast-food restaurants over concerns from obesity to use of trans fats.

Here's a closer look at trans fats:

What are trans fats? Most trans fats are a byproduct created when liquid vegetable oil is turned into solid oil through a chemical process called hydrogenation. Most trans fats are synthetic, but as much as 20% of trans fats consumed in an average diet are naturally occurring in beef and dairy products.

Studies link trans fats to increased levels of low-density lipoprotein or "bad cholesterol" in the blood, and decreased levels of high-density lipoprotein, or "good cholesterol" in the blood. Elevated levels of bad cholesterol are linked to an increased risk of heart disease.

What about saturated fat? Saturated fat is a naturally occurring fat found in animal and many plant products, like coconut oil and palm oil. It has been linked to increased levels of "bad cholesterol" in the blood, but unlike trans fats, it hasn't been linked to lower "good cholesterol."

Still, saturated fat makes up 13% of an average American's total fat intake, while trans fat makes up just 2%. Some experts say synthetic trans fats are being targeted for a ban since they can be mostly removed from the food supply. Saturated fats are natural and can only be moderated.

So what's healthier: Eating saturated fat or trans fats? Nutritionists say ideally people shouldn't eat either. Instead they should eat oils low in saturated fat and trans fat, like olive oil.

Why do restaurants use trans-fat oils? Animal fats were commonly used in restaurants through the

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• The WSJ's editorial board view1

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early 1980s, until the public became worried about the link between animal fat and high cholesterol. By the 1990s, most restaurants had replaced animal fats with partially hydrogenated oils, the source of synthetic trans fats, which at the time weren't widely considered harmful.

Restaurants and most major food manufacturers grew accustomed to using the trans-fat oils, saying their customers preferred the special "mouth feel" they gave to food -- crispier french fries, moister cakes. Restaurants also say partially hydrogenated oil allows the same batch of frying oil to be used multiple times. For baked goods, the oils allow products to sit longer on shelves.

Aren't there other "bad" foods in American diets? Sure. High levels of sodium are linked with high blood pressure, while too much sugar can lead to diabetes and obesity. But sugar and sodium are "perfectly acceptable" in moderation, says David Katz at the Yale Prevention Research Center. But he considers any level of synthetic trans fats to be a "toxin." The Food and Drug Administration, however, still categorizes trans fats as "generally recognized as safe." Copious calories and little exercise are still the biggest health threats to Americans, says Alice Lichtenstein at Tufts University School of Medicine. Two-thirds of Americans are considered overweight or obese.

What's the future of trans fats? Already, a number of major chain restaurants have voluntarily switched to trans-fat-free oils, including Brinker International Inc.'s Chili's, Ruby Tuesday Inc. and Wendy's International Inc. Lawsuits have pressured some companies to abandon trans fats as well. A suit against Kraft Foods Inc. prompted the company last year to reformulate its Oreo cookie, some of which now contain no trans fats. Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC was sued over the issue and later announced it would largely abandon trans fats by next year.

--Lauren Etter

FACTS

In 2003, Denmark became the first country to strictly regulate trans fats. There, it is illegal in processed foods for trans fats to make up more than 2% of a product's total fat content.

About 1.2 million heart attacks occur every year in the U.S. Near elimination of trans fats would reduce coronary heart disease -- the primary risk factor for heart attack -- by as much as 19% a year, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

A large order of french fries and large chicken nuggets at McDonald's in New York has 10.2 grams of trans fat, compared with 0.33 grams in Denmark, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Americans eat about 4.7 pounds of trans fats a year. The American Heart Association recommends eating less than 1.6 pounds a year, based on a 2,000 calorie-a-day diet.

U.S. restaurants use five billion pounds of frying oil every year, the majority of which is partially hydrogenated oil, according to the National Restaurant Association. That's 13.7 million pounds every day.

Americans buy more olive oil annually than shortening. Sales of shortening were about $124 million, compared to $637 million for olive oil in 2005, according to market-data provider Information Resources Inc. Sales of Crisco -- the iconic shortening -- are down nearly 20% since 2001.

POINTS OF VIEW

"We're not trying to take away anybody's ability to go out and have the kind of food that they want in the quantities that they want, but we are trying to make that food safer."

---- Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor

"Would you want the burden of asking your restaurant whether there's lead in the food? Whether there's arsenic in the bread? For all I know, maybe arsenic makes bread more crusty. But it's poison."

---- David Katz, director, Yale Prevention Research Center

"This isn't over. We don't think that a municipal health agency has any business banning a product the Food and Drug Administration has already approved."

---- Dan Fleshler, a spokesman for the National Restaurant Association

"Fat is the next tobacco...there's lots of liability to go around."

---- John Banzhaf, professor, George Washington University Law School

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April 7, 2007

Your Health Government Joins Fight Against Trans Fats

Talk of the Nation, September 27, 2006 · Guests talk about the new proposal to ban most trans fats from restaurant menus in New York City. Healthy eaters are all for it, but some chefs want the city to stay out of their kitchens and let the diners decide.

Guest:

Dr. Thomas Frieden, New York City health commissioner

Patty Neighmond, NPR's senior health policy correspondent

Walter Olson, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute; author of The Rule of Lawyers

The Skinny on Trans Fat by Melody Joy Kramer

Trans fat, which has been shown to increase levels of bad cholesterol, is in the news again. New York City is the latest place that wants to ban trans fat in restaurants, which often use the not-good-for-you oil to make fried foods and baked goods. Denmark and the city of Tiburon near San Francisco have already banished trans fats from all local eateries; other cities like Chicago and Los Angeles are weighing a ban.

Scott Olson

Regulations from the Food and Drug Administration require food manufacturers to list trans fats on products that contain 0.5 grams or more of the unhealthy oil. Getty Images ©

Why does the health world hate trans fat so? We talked to two public-health researchers about what consumers need to know about the dastardly shortening.

Marion Nestle is the author of What to Eat and a professor in the nutrition department at New York University. Walter Willett chairs the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

What it is: Trans fat is made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil -- a process invented in the late 19th century to help lengthen the shelf life of food products. The added hydrogen also makes frying oil last longer.

Why it's bad for you: Partially hydrogenated oil "raises the bad blood cholesterol (LDL) while lowering the good cholesterol (HDL)," says Nestle. "It's worse than saturated fat because it's introducing something unnatural into the body. There's no reason to have trans fats in food. They're unnecessary, artificial, and demonstrably bad."

Where it's found: According to the Food and Drug Administration, trans fat can be found in products like cookies, crackers, vegetable shortenings, some margarines, snack foods. Just look for the phrase "partially hydrogenated oil" on the label. On Jan. 1, 2006, all food manufacturers were required to label trans fat in their products.

Why it's on the wane in store-bought goods: "Once the FDA required food manufacturers to label their products, everyone managed to find a substitute," says Nestle. And no matter what fat they use, it's not nearly as bad as trans fat, says Willet.

"Even substituted fat would still lead to a reduction in deaths from heart disease," Willet says.

The best deal is switching to an unsaturated fat, which helps lower cholesterol. Manufacturers are slowly beginning to make the switch to these unsaturated fats. Look for monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats on the label, which indicate healthier oils such as olive, sunflower and soybean.

2006

Surprise! It's still in some store-bought products: If a label says a product has zero grams of trans fat, it's not necessarily true.

Under FDA regulations, "if the serving contains less than 0.5 gram [of trans fat], the content, when declared, shall be expressed as zero." Food products, such as crackers, could contain .49 grams of trans fat and not require a label. You can eat a serving of crackers (from 5-15 crackers, depending on brand and definitely not unusual for snack food) -- and still get trans fat. Two servings that might seem to have 0 trans fat could actually have nearly a gram. And any amount of trans fat –- even in trace quantities -– can increase your chances of developing heart disease.

To know whether a product contains trans fat, look at the ingredient list. If the ingredients list the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," "hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "vegetable shortening," the food contains trans fat.

Waiter, is that a trans fat in my fry? When dining out or buying goods at a bakery, you won't know whether you're consuming trans fats unless you ask. And you won't really know unless, as Willet suggests, you ask to see the label for the fat that restaurants choose for frying. It should not have the words "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil," "hydrogenated vegetable oil" or "vegetable shortening" anywhere on the label.

It might be a little embarrassing for you, but Willet thinks you should persist. "It's really good to do that," he says, "because it helps educate the restaurants, as well. A lot of them don't know they're using trans fat."

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