Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat. By RAYMOND SOKOLOV July 27, 2006; Wall Street Journal

Fat. Fat. Fat. Fat.
By RAYMOND SOKOLOV
July 27, 2006; Page A12
Fat-lovers all over Chicago are quivering like jelly, from their 24-inch necks to their long-lost-from-view ankles. Why? Alderman Edward M. Burke has proposed an ordinance banning restaurant chains from cooking with oils containing trans fats. Windy City high-on-the-hoggers have already been hit with an aldermanic ordinance banning foie gras in restaurants. Now this.

So begins an expose of the continued use of "gazillions of gallons" trans fats in the restaurant and fast food industry to improve shelf life of their products . Mr Sokolov fails to mention that substititutes are widely available but more expensive. And in a classic line that I hope to quote in all talks about trans fats he asks "What if arsenic also conferred profitable advantages to margarine or potato chips? Clearly we would ban its use , he states. Bravo, Raymond Sokolov that is an elegant way to put it. I wholeheartedly agree. Trans fats however are worse than arsenic because they are so ubiquitous, worldwide.

The article only mention about trans fat cardiac/cholesterol issues. Don't forget how well transfats block long chain fatty acid(LCFA) formation from dietary fatty acid sources in humans. These long chain fatty acids are the essential building blocks of the brain and trans fats in pregnant women cross into the fetus and after birth to the breast milk to reduce availbilty of these LCFA utero to the rapidly growing brain. LCFA deficits have been shown to reduce IQ in the infant.See earlier post on blog.
No mention is made of increased macular degeneration, increased gall stones, diabetes complications and increased deaths from arrythmias as well as eclampsia in late pregnancy. Its not just cholesterol and clogged arteries that are an issue.

And then as many others have done Sokolov blames fat for America's main health problems. He states "French fries, no matter what oil they bathe in are not good for your system or your weight" But that does not mean you should sprinkle them with arsenic. Fat is essential to the human diet, to the human body and to healthy nutrition. You could not become a fruitarian Mr Sokolov because you would never feel satiated. Fat in a meal satisfies us. Salads don't.

And as far as weight gain with apologies to Bill "its the (liquid)sugar stupid". Its sugar in liquid form as pop, sports drinks and even clear juices that challenge the pancreas into oversecreting insulin as the sugar is too rapidly absorbed into the blood. Also, the satiety center in the hypothalamus somehow never recognizes these rapidly absorbed calories leaving one much more hungry than an equivalent amount of dessert calories would. We end up with more total calories at each meal when we drink 300 calories of pop. At 15-18 spoons of sugar equivalent per drink these calories rapidly add up daily weekly and monthly. And unlike fat calories these sugar calories leave you hungry for more. Yes its the one two punch of trans fats and pop that has rapidly escalated our health care costs.

It is unconstitutional to ban a poison! All because it is more profitable in commerce. No that's just not common sense.

Eat the Popeye cajun chicken, eat McD french fries. But ask McD's if they could change the oil in Europe years ago why not in America?
We do matter. Our health is our bottom line!


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115396408708218663.html?mod=todays_us_opinion