Dec 21, 2006 9:55 pm US/Eastern
Boca Raton May Be Next City To Ban Trans Fat
by Joan Murray
BOCA RATON (CBS4) ―
New York City has done it. Disney World and Universal Studios are doing it and now Boca Raton is considering doing it too. City leaders are considering a ban on trans fat at local restaurants.
City Council members are looking into all options concerning the elimination of the hydrogenated vegetable oil that has gotten a bad rap from health and fitness folks.
They are exploring their options which range from an outright trans fat ban to a call for voluntary compliance from local eateries.
Boca Raton is just the latest in a number of governments addressing restaurant foods.
The New York City Board of Health voted earlier this month to phase out trans fat from restaurants by July 1, 2008. The measure allows eateries 18 months to switch to oils, margarines and shortening with less than half a gram of trans fat per serving.
In South Florida, officials in the city of Tamarac asked all restaurants in October to voluntarily get rid of trans fat from their menus.
Other big cities across the country, such as Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Louisville, and New Jersey are reportedly considering similar trans fat bans.
So what exactly is trans fat? It�s vegetable oil that has been treated with hydrogen in order to make it more solid and give it a longer shelf life. It also helps maintain flavors in foods.
It is used in baked goods like doughnuts, breads, crackers, potato chips, cookies and many other processed food products.
Scientific evidence shows that consumption of trans fat, like saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, raise low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad cholesterol," levels, and that increases the risk of coronary heart disease.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, more than 12.5 million Americans have coronary heart disease and more than 500,000 die each year. That makes coronary heart disease one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
The National Academy of Sciences recommended in 2002 that dietary intake of trans fatty acids be minimized.
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