City declares war on a new public enemy -- trans fat
The bad guys used to be MSG and saturated fat. But now there's a new public health enemy number one -- trans fat. And Cambridge hopes to take it out -- quickly.
Not that it'll be a New York-style hit, at least not yet. On the banks of the Charles, there will be study and dialogue first.
Last month, the Cambridge Public Health Department recommended the city work with local restaurants to reduce the amount of trans fats used in food preparation, rather than ban the fats entirely as the Big
Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves has said he wants Cambridge to become one of the nation's healthiest cities, and reducing trans fat could help achieve that goal.
The city's interim chief public health officer , Dr. Karen Hacker , said the public health community is almost thinking of trans fat "as a toxic substance."
She said the controversy reminds her of the concerns raised about MSG, or monosodium glutamate, a flavor-enhancing food additive that can cause a severe reaction in some people. "There are alternatives out there that we ought to be using."
Trans fat is worse than saturated fat, Hacker said, because it not only raises "bad" cholesterol levels, or LDL, in the blood stream, it does something even worse: It also decreases "good" cholesterol, or HDL.
Trans fat increases the risk of heart disease, health officials say. While trans fat occurs naturally in low levels in dairy and beef, most Americans consume their biggest share of it in the form of partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, used primarily in fried foods and commercially produced baked goods.
Alternatives to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil include olive, canola, and peanut oils.
No decisions have been made about asking restaurants to reduce their use of trans fat, but Hacker expects the city will act quickly in holding public hearings about how to proceed.
Several national chains already have elected to eliminate or reduce the use of trans fat in cooking. These chains include Wendy's, the Cheesecake Factory, Au Bon Pain, Legal Sea Foods, and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
"When you see large companies making decisions to do this before consumer pressure kicks in, that's a good thing," Hacker said.
Part of her plan for Cambridge would include education for the public and restaurateurs to help owners and chefs cut back. "My guess is that some restaurants are already doing it and may not even know it," she said.
A good example is Veggie Planet in Harvard Square. The vegetarian restaurant serves deep-fried tofu croutons on its salads, but co-owner Adam Penn wasn't sure whether the canola oil he uses contains trans fat. It does not.
Some of that guesswork could be eliminated for consumers, Hacker said, if restaurants would put stickers in their windows or on the menu saying they are "trans-fat free." The sticker concept was one of the incentives City Councilor Brian Murphy suggested.
The city also is trying to take a bite out of bad eating habits through the public schools. This fall, elementary students have been participating in taste tests for new, healthier recipes involving fresh fruits and vegetables. One success so far has been lightly steamed broccoli served with a ranch dip, said Dawn Olcott, a nutritionist in the city's Public Health Department who works directly with the schools.
Last week, pupils at the Tobin School tasted sweet-potato fries, which are baked in an oven and rubbed with Cajun spices, as an alternative to traditional french fries. Olcott said they've already been a hit at other elementary schools in the city.
Changing dietary habits has been on the school district's menu since last year, when the schools participated in a pilot program, but now, Olcott said, officials also will look into the trans fat that may be in the food they're serving. 