Forced Preventative Health

First it was cigarettes now its fat. The libertarians are going to have a field day with this one. The NYT's reports that the New York City Board of Health has voted unanimously to require restaurants to restrict the use of "trans fats" in their cooking. Where is our freedom to wreck our hearts going?

Trans unsaturated fatty acids, or trans fats, are solid fats produced artificially by heating liquid vegetable oils in the presence of metal catalysts and hydrogen. This process, partial hydrogenation, causes carbon atoms to bond in a straight configuration and remain in a solid state at room temperature. Naturally-occurring unsaturated fatty acids have carbon atoms that line up in a bent shape, resulting in a liquid state at room temperature.

Basically, unsaturated oils quickly become rancid. To solve this problem, manufacturers begain to "partially hydrogenate" the oils. Trans fats are created by the process used to "partially hydrogenate" oils. They also raise your serum levels of LDL or low density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol). This is thought to result in increased heart disease.

Proof that people will use the internet to advocate for almost anything is the web site bantransfats.com.

Personally, I am becoming more convinced that much heart disease is related to inflammation, possibly due to Chlamydia infection, rather than the effects of lipids.

Next time you have your cholesterol checked, ask your Doctor to check your c-reactive protein levels too.