U.S. Bans Trans Fat(bloomberg.com)
bloomberg.com
U.S. Bans Trans Fat
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-16/u-s-bans-trans-fat-in-a-boost-for-palm-oil-and-a-blow-for-pie
324 comments
Does anyone else remember when the Center for Science in The Public Interest pressured everyone to move away from saturated fats to trans fats?
The people leading the charge on this are the primary reason why we went to trans fats in the first place!
The people leading the charge on this are the primary reason why we went to trans fats in the first place!
> “I don’t know how many lives will be saved, but probably in the thousands per year when all the companies are in compliance,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Ironic since CSPI is one of the major reasons that we are using trans-fats today.
Ironic since CSPI is one of the major reasons that we are using trans-fats today.
Thank goodness. This will finally put an end to companies including trans fat in their products but labeling 0 grams of trans fat due to serving size and other stupid tricks. I think consumers as a whole can get over pie crust not feeling the same for a little bit, as well as a slightly different texture for frosting.
This story is a great reminder that there's a lot of potential for studying Regulations.gov API and writing an interface (and heuristic) for surfacing interesting rules and regulations...the trans-fat rule has been up for comment for long while now:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2013-N-1317
Maybe I'm in the minority of people who hadn't heard that this transfat regulation was soon to be implemented (as a former New Yorker, it caught me by surprise)...but there are probably many upcoming rules that are worth knowing about before they get published.
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=FDA-2013-N-1317
Maybe I'm in the minority of people who hadn't heard that this transfat regulation was soon to be implemented (as a former New Yorker, it caught me by surprise)...but there are probably many upcoming rules that are worth knowing about before they get published.
Pros and cons to everything. Replacing trans fat with palm oil will likely increase the negative impact some of that industry has on the environment.
https://news.vice.com/article/indonesia-is-killing-the-plane...
https://news.vice.com/article/indonesia-is-killing-the-plane...
> “I don’t know how many lives will be saved, but probably in the thousands per year when all the companies are in compliance,”
I doubt it. People are going to continue to eat way to much of things they shouldn't, or too much of things that should be only eaten in moderation. It's not like Trans-Fats are the only thing people are eating too much of that is killing them.
I doubt it. People are going to continue to eat way to much of things they shouldn't, or too much of things that should be only eaten in moderation. It's not like Trans-Fats are the only thing people are eating too much of that is killing them.
By these standards, how is alcohol still legal?
Alcohol-Related Deaths: Nearly 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
-http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-con...
EDIT: I'm not advocating that alcohol be illegal. I couldn't care less to be honest.
I guess my comment was more of a question of how can you ban substance "A" because "Its bad for you"; but not ban substance "B" which kills 90k people in the U.S. annually? It just seems cherry picked is all. If the gov't is going to ban bad things, how does substance "B" get a pass?
Alcohol-Related Deaths: Nearly 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women) die from alcohol-related causes annually, making it the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
-http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-con...
EDIT: I'm not advocating that alcohol be illegal. I couldn't care less to be honest.
I guess my comment was more of a question of how can you ban substance "A" because "Its bad for you"; but not ban substance "B" which kills 90k people in the U.S. annually? It just seems cherry picked is all. If the gov't is going to ban bad things, how does substance "B" get a pass?
> “I don’t know how many lives will be saved, but probably in the thousands per year when all the companies are in compliance,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
"Saved" in this context means what, living 3 months longer because your heart disease is slightly milder than it would otherwise have been?
"Saved" in this context means what, living 3 months longer because your heart disease is slightly milder than it would otherwise have been?
That's nice, but I think will be ineffectual in practice. As soon as you start cooking with any unsaturated fats, a portion will isomerize to trans fats. I doubt major food manufacturers are using only trans-fat sources in today's climate of health conscious (or hypervigilant) practices.
The food police were wrong and killed a lot of people with trans fats. Can we have our lard back now? Oreo cookies taste like crap with whatever they've replaced the trans fats with.
I still don't quite get it; couldn't they have just mandated the usage/inclusion of trans-fat in product, and let the consumers avoid it? By the same standards, we're still letting people smoke and drink.
Maybe I'll finally be able to find snack cakes and biscuits without partially hydrogenated oil. That stuff is everywhere, even when the label proudly claims '0 trans fat!'. Such a crock.
But vegetable shortening necessarily contains large amounts of trans fat. Does this mean that currently vegetarian foodstuffs will switch back to lard?
Shouldn't there be some kind of regulation on products that use a lot of sugar? Specially those sold in large quantities ..
This issue is the most important health and safety issue in the country right now. Add up all of the deaths due to obesity-related diseases and it's an obvious low-hanging fruit for improvement. For all the yellow-jacket journalism surrounding cars or drugs or strangers or vaccines or guns, they are all drops in the bucket compared to heart disease.
But that said, I don't think the FDA or CDC are doing anything functionally significant towards improving the issue. There is a greater underlying question that still needs to be answered: why has the problem continued to get worse, despite ALL efforts otherwise?
There is a gun against the head of 2/3rds of Americans and nobody is asking how it got there and why it's still there. I'm afraid it's because we keep arguing about the shape and color of the bullets and how you should really be better at dodging bullets of you want to stay alive.
But that said, I don't think the FDA or CDC are doing anything functionally significant towards improving the issue. There is a greater underlying question that still needs to be answered: why has the problem continued to get worse, despite ALL efforts otherwise?
There is a gun against the head of 2/3rds of Americans and nobody is asking how it got there and why it's still there. I'm afraid it's because we keep arguing about the shape and color of the bullets and how you should really be better at dodging bullets of you want to stay alive.
There is something about nutrition that always sparks a 500 comment thread on HN. I am not sure why.
It's strange that they're putting these measures in place when sugar is significantly more damaging to people. High fructose corn syrup would have been a much better target.
Since this is by regulation and not statue, what's to stop the next administration from simply changing its mind?
I live in france and apparently there is no law to force manufacturers to indicate those. I often see "hydrogenated oil", but I don't know if it's possible to get away with those tricks mentioned in the article.
Got coronary disease in my family...
Got coronary disease in my family...
wow - that is amazing. An outright ban. No, "strict labelling laws", no "strict regulation" in the amount or limitation on the kinds of foods that can still have it. Ban.
I'm surprised!
I'm surprised!
And so dies the last of Indonesia's remaining natural forests.
Covered by cultivated palm trees.
ADM, you are going to have to pry the coconut oil out of my cold, dead, greasy hands!
But what about biscuits!!!
Fried Chicken!!!
Alton Brown recommends using Crisco, he's like a scientist.
Fried Chicken!!!
Alton Brown recommends using Crisco, he's like a scientist.
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Does this mean the end of no-stir peanut butter? I hate that stuff you have to mix all the time.
I thought this stuff was already banned in the 90's.
"As for frying, palm oil is expected to be a go-to alternative"
That's like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, pun intended!
That's like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire, pun intended!
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This is really, really bad news.
http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/Whats_the_issue.php