Trans Fat Fight Claims Butter as a Victim »
Posted by: Neophile 1 year, 6 months ago109 Comments Report this Story
Some bakers are being forced to substitute processed fats for real butter because of the small amounts of natural trans fat butter contains.
Read Full Story at nytimes.com
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earthlingerer1 year, 6 months ago
Actually, the force behind the trans-fats, and a lot of these other things are conservative capitalists, like insurance companies and HMOs.
If there's less of this stuff, then they have less to outlay, and keep more of their money as profit.
It's like when your employer gets pressed to fire or lay off the very sick guy, because his being part of the employee group makes it harder to keep insurance costs low, and fair to everyone in the company "plan".
And man, you've been drinking too much of that "9 cent coffee", dude!
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Thunder11 year, 6 months ago
Conservatives like me do not seek to control, but look for self responsibility. I eat much less fast food because I was gaining weight. Lost 18 of the 25 pounds I wanted to. If you want to fet fat and gain 300 lbs, the go ahead, but don't make me pay for your health problems and bigger doors on everything just for you.
I just want to be reasonable. I don't mind govt saying I need to know what's in what i'm eating, but not what I can eat!
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NonnaUrBiz1 year, 6 months ago
Boy I was right there with you until you brought in the "Libs" label, can't you "Cons"
and "Libs" step away from the extremes and take a step toward being "Americans"? Don't let politicians form your opinions, do your own research (not FOX) from multiple sources.
The bottom line is that the corporations make money off of the artificial trans fats and the FDA will do what ever the corporations want them to...so... if you are waiting for a government agency to do what's best for "We The People" you should watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsZO6G7dfpI
and then do your own research
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LABELDUDE1 year, 6 months ago
For some reason Laguna Beach, California uses more butter per capita than any other city of comparable size. Let's wait and see if the butter use in Laguna drops off now that we know how much trans fat it contains.
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stephen-johnson1 year, 6 months ago
Heads, up, people - next up on the banning queue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesterified_fat
Interesterified fats are oils (such as soybean oil) that have been chemically modified. This is done in order to make them more solid, less liable to go rancid and more stable for applications such as deep frying. The interesterification process is used as an alternative to partial hydrogenation, which results in trans fats. However, research indicates that interesterified fats may pose other health risks.
Maybe we shoukd forget about trying to make unhealthy food "safe" and practice moderation. It worked for the French (the so-called French paradox) before they caught the supersize bug
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adman1 year, 6 months ago
For millions of us, this is not over-reacting. This is life and death. People with heart conditions have to eat as little trans fat as possible. Moderation is key. And if someone like Starbucks wants to offer foods with little to no trans fat, then they can have my money.
Clkbeus99, with a blood pressure like yours, I'm guessing you'll keel over long before Starbucks will.
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jordan111 year, 6 months ago
Why not just be reasonable and label foods with trans fats?>>>>
They do label foods with the different types of fats. I guess the govt. figures people aren't smart enough to read the labels.
It wouldn't be cost affective to make one product two ways. Manufacturers will assume lovers of pastries want the healthier fats, and put those in. Saturated fats are 'bad' fats, and trans fats are very bad fats. Very bad because they clog arteries more readily than even bad fats do. I don't know if studies have been done on naturally ocurring trans fats vs man made trans fats or not. Saturated fat shouldn't kill you, if used in moderation, but trans fats appear to be very dangerous.
http://www.lowfatlifestyle.com/goodfatbadfat.htm
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
I agree adman. If Starbucks wants to cater to health conscious consumers, then let them! Isn't that a perfect example of the free market system at work?
Of course, I still won't buy Starbucks coffee until they serve regular house coffee for under $1 (because anything above that amount is ridiculous), but that's besides the point.
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stephen-johnson1 year, 6 months ago
"For millions of us, this is not over-reacting. This is life and death."
Then don't patronize Tom Reich's Tom Cat Bakery. Don't force the poor guy to change the way he has been baking for years
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amazed1 year, 6 months ago
sure, but for those of us on a quest to shut down our arteries, that should be our perogative.
btw, my cholesterol and bp are fine, thank you.
I just don't want to eat cardboard.
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Culinaire1 year, 5 months ago
Adman, Those of you with heart conditions should be more concerned with what is being used to replace butter. In most cases it is tropical Palm oil with is loaded with saturated fats. After this whole TF issue goes on for a while - the next wave will be the high levels of Saturated Fats that have been added to products across the board (because of everyone jumping on the TF bandwagon)
Culinaire
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Poulenc1 year, 6 months ago
It's stories like this--well, it's THIS story--that activate my usually VERY dormant libertarian impulses.
Chefs--aux armes! Out of the kitchens and into the streets!
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doppich1 year, 6 months ago
I agree with rules that require full disclosure of food contents, so that I can make my own informed choices. Beyond that, it gets murky. Polonium should be banned. Pure water should be allowed. Where to draw the line? My household will continue using butter, cheese, milk and the occasional ground dead cow.
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GODIMMAD1 year, 6 months ago
Dont forget eggs, kinda like icecaps, are bad or good depending on how many years have passed
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Kenoryn1 year, 6 months ago
The body does not require arsenic. I am a chemist and I research arsenic. Totally useless. It's true that it's often in water though. What the body DOES require from water is minerals, which are in high concentrations in natural water. These things are highly water soluble. If you remember your high school chemistry, you'll know that ions such as these will readily diffuse across a concentration gradient (from areas of high to low concentration). Thus, if you drink pure water, it will actually remove minerals from you. This is useful for people who are prone to kidney stones, but really bad for everyone else.
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traveler20001 year, 6 months ago
Not the whole cow I hope??? (lol).
And, actualy, I'm not even sure that (to much?) pure, distilled water is good for you.
Maybe we should all walk around with computer that calculates what products (chemical make up) we are eating (or shouldn't).
And maybe, for our bestwill and our good, gouvernment should give us "ration tickets" allowing us to eat x kg (sorry, pounds) of meat (cow or porc??), x liter (gallons) of water, X kg of sugar, x liter of coca cola, ....... a month. (depending of cours of our age, weight, gender, race .....). All of cours for our good.
And we will all live happely (and booringly) to at least 110 years of age.
Oops, doesn't that create a "pensions problem"??
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GODIMMAD1 year, 6 months ago
Yes chefs please go to the streets because you serve what we want to eat. Its personal choice, to eat or not to. And that includes how much. Its bad for us, let us know what you know. Let us choice. I think that is my liberal coming out. Dont make laws about how I should live, just give me what I should know about the risk and dont let the govt tell me how to live...pls. NO laws telling what I can or not do. Just tell me the truth and let me decide...since it is my own body
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SitNlook1 year, 6 months ago
I think we will return to using Parkay, imperial and Fleishmans margarine which way back was better for you too.. Nothing is better for you than the simplest of ingredients and butter shouldn't be messed with. Hooray for fat! Communism seems to be creeping into our government,you can't do this, you can't say that,you can't eat this! Gettin'a little scarey here, don't you think?
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
" Communism seems to be creeping into our government"
Thanks for playing "Really bad analogies!!"
Get real. Having the government enforce health and safety standards does not make it communist. I agree that there is a line between protecting the health and safety of the public and invading our private lives, but even if this ban on transfat crosses that line it doesn't make the government communist.
If communism led to better health and safety standards, then you would have expected the former Soviet Union to have the cleanest and healthiest society and population that ever lived! Obviously that was hardly the case.
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
No, the day that our government is overthrown and replaced by a dicatorship of the proletariat is the day that we become a communist country. Having a law get passed that you happen not to like does not make us communist. You still have the right to protest that law, elect officials willing to repeal that law, etc.
All I'm saying is use terms correctly, or don't use them at all.
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Changingconstant1 year, 6 months ago
Nope, the cows are scheduled to be getting anitbiotics for pnemunia that will breed more resistent pnemunia. The cows should be fine.
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twotweeds1 year, 6 months ago
Anything man made scares me. A cow is a cow and as long as they have natural, wholesome food, fresh water, a nice, happy free roaming life, and are not shot up with anything that will make them anything than what they are how can one go wrong? Butter is natural (preferably organic), milk is natural (again organic), eggs - natural if they are organic and free roaming. margerine is, like, one molecule away from plastic. The only reason anything is man made to seem like the natural is because they are trying to produce for the masses where they make a bigger profit. By the way, soybeans are not meant to be eaten. Have you ever tried to feed a dog soybeans? They turn away because they do not consider it edible. There is a huge process in making soybeans edible. I could go on and on....
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m-simon1 year, 6 months ago
What about houses?
Pretty scary no?
And autos. Very bad. Except streets filled with horse droppings are worse.
Electrical power? What's a matter? Candles not good enough for you?
Wood stoves and heating. That's the ticket.
Organic farming? Great idea. All we have to do is cut the forrests in the USA back to 1900 levels to get the required crop land.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.
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twotweeds1 year, 6 months ago
Anything can be made healthier by getting technology out of it. I understand that it is not easy paying a small fortune for a bag of oreos, which are now trans fat free. But if they were made without all the preservatives, etc. they would cost more because they would be more expensive to make. But really, just because oreos' don't have trans fat, are they healthy?? Why not ban them and all other packaged products all together. WHY NOT BAN ANYTHING THAT IS NOT AN ORGANIC VEGETABLE? (Fruit should be banned because it has too much natural sugar...jk
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twotweeds1 year, 6 months ago
I understand that vegans' love and care for animals. I respect them for that, and that they want a healthy diet. I too love animals, but I am willing to eat them if they are living a nice, happy, healthy life and one day (knife across the throat action). I am not big on meat in the first place, but when I eat it I want to know that it did not die in vain. That is more important than whether or not the meat lasts longer, or you got more meat off the carcass and made a bigger profit, due to the steroids given to the animal. Animals were not put here to be profitable, they were put here to provide food and nourishment (along with enjoyment). Eat less meat, pay more for the good meat, and make money creating something useful.
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Kenoryn1 year, 6 months ago
I would venture to say that most vegans aren't vegans because of anything to do with animals. It's a concern of sustainability and the environment. The land and resource use required to produce meat instead of grain is simply staggering. Eating soy will use far less of the world's resources than eating cow.
I'm a chemist myself, and I eat margarine. It's simply hydrogenated vegetable oil- essentially, vegetable oil in a solid form. Man-made things don't frighten me: we all use computers, don't we? we take aspirin when we have a headache? we accept antibiotics to cure bacterial infections? Any of the women here on the pill? These things are no different.
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twotweeds1 year, 6 months ago
Aspirin and Antibiotics come from natural products, essentually. I know the benefits of most meds, I know the side of effects of meds as well. Just because you are a chemist doesn't make you a nice person. Commenting on my typing/grammer skills when I am hurridly trying to make to make a point? Making mistakes that are not worth the time correcting or not caught until I hit the submit button? As do others?
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Kenoryn1 year, 6 months ago
Although actually dark chocolate has some health benefits. No one should eat at McDonald's anyway. What a terrible corporation.
I see no good reason not to ban cigarettes. Tobacco is a useless drug that is commonly abused, and, more importantly, it hurts those around smokers as well as those who smoke.
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
"I see no good reason not to ban cigarettes. Tobacco is a useless drug that is commonly abused, and, more importantly, it hurts those around smokers as well as those who smoke."
The same can be said of alcohol. We tried banning that, and look how that turned out.
Don't get me wrong, I am totally for encouraging people to be more healthy, but outlawing their ability to make the choice for themselves is not the answer. Making people take responsibility for their actions makes much more sense.
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Beau78901 year, 6 months ago
"Don't get me wrong, I am totally for encouraging people to be more healthy, but outlawing their ability to make the choice for themselves is not the answer."
Thank you, ryan. I agree completely with that statement.
Educating people with real scientific information about nutrition and the effects of harmful chemicals is an excellent idea. But banning things, whether alcohol, illegal drugs, butter, trans fats, etc., will not work and only creates a backlash, and does nothing to teach people WHY they should watch what they do.
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Changingconstant1 year, 6 months ago
Awesome movie. One of my faves. They have been playing it on MSNBC for a while too.
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
Banning these things that are bad for you is a bad idea, but the rest of us shouldn't have to pay for other people's poor choices in the form of taxes for Medicaire and higher health insurance premiums.
I smoke and I pay taxes on my cigarettes that go to help offset the medical costs of other smokers who are unfortunate enough to suffer from smoking related illnesses. I accept the fact that I am needlessly risking my life and my health and I accept the responsibility of paying more for my vice so that others do not have to pay for me through their Medicare tax money and insurance premiums.
So why can't we do the same for trans fat? Or fast food for that matter? Don't more people die each year in the US from complications due to obesity (heart disease, diabetes, etc.) than die from smoking related illnesses? If you want to eat trans fat, fine. But be willing to pay more for it.
cont'd
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
cont'd
I say, if you want the freedom to eat at McDonalds, then fine. I totally agree that everyone has the right to put as many pounds on their fat ass as they like. But take responsibility for your actions! I shouldn't have to pay for your stupid food choices any more than you should have to pay for my smoking.
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Kenoryn1 year, 6 months ago
The question is whether we have the right to make good choices for those who are incapable of doing it themselves. It seems that fewer and fewer people are able to make reasonable choices about food and lifestyle, and many don't even seem to realize that it could be fatal. These people aren't trying to kill themselves, they're just uneducated. (Or lazy.)
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Kenoryn1 year, 6 months ago
Smoking is still higher than obesity, but obesity is catching up, and almost there.
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youpeopledrivemenuts1 year, 6 months ago
Wait, I'm not done.
Breaking news. Man sentenced to thirty years for selling butter within 1,000 ft of a restaurant.
And, if you elect me I promise to make it a felony punishable by 10,000 years in prison with out the possibility of parole.
This just in, a drive by shooting in NY is thought to be related to the illegal butter trade more info as we get it.
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aquarius4481 year, 6 months ago
Nothing like chemically altered butter substitutes to add a little touch of class to a nice meal. Would you like another dab of phytopolyc... on your pancakes, Sir? Yummy.
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Webreader1 year, 6 months ago
Thx kelluv and ryan601 for saying it for me. It's like the motorcycle helmet. On the surface, why should I care if someone I don't know rides without a helmet? Because MY ins. rates go up unless helmetless riders pay surcharges. (Rem. Steelers QB Ben Rothlisberger?) That's why most states have helmet laws, to protect everyone, of course.
The same with food putting more folks in the hospitals, as explained very clearly by kelluv and ryan601 above.
Also, there is a significant difference, according to the story, between manufactured trans-fat, and that which occurs in smaller relative quantities in natural foods like butter. Guess what, the trans-fat manufactured by humans is the worst for us. I had a grandmother who lived to be 100, died last century. She probably never heard of trans-fat and ate meat, eggs, and used lard and bacon fat for cooking, but since she ate mostly homemade foods, probably ate just a bit of manufactured trans-fats which sneaked into her diet by chance.
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
(sigh) hoppy, you need to go back to civics class.
The government has ALWAYS had the right to tell you what to do. They're called LAWS. No system of government, whether its democratic, communist, theocratic, monarchic, or otherwise, has EVER allowed its citizens to do whatever they want whenever they want to. That's why you're not allowed to steal, murder, kidnap, avoid paying taxes, or run red lights, even if you want to.
We only live in a "free" society in the sense that we (at least in theory) have a voice in determining what laws get passed by either electing representatives or voting (e.g. a referendum).
A society in which citizens have the right to do anything they want is not democracy; its called ANARCHY.
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ryan6011 year, 6 months ago
I was just pointing out that the government does, in principle, have the right to tell you what to do. The fact that you may or may not agree with a particular law, does not make the government "communist", even if the law actually does infringe upon your personal rights. After all, you always have the ability to protest the law, elect officials to have it repealed, etc.
So I was pointing out that hoppy was using the term "communist" as a cheap shot to make a rather inane point.
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LABELDUDE1 year, 6 months ago
BACON GREASE! That's the thing. Good for ya too. I used to make popcorn using bacon grease. MAN, that stuff was good. You could take a bag of it along and finish a 50 mile march in short order. Nice for Christmas gifts and wedding anniversaries too.
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