Thursday, March 6, 2008

Baltimore Set to Ban Trans Fats

Some doctors question health benefits of the ban

By Marc Kilmer

Categories: Nanny State

It looks like Baltimore is heading down the road of banning trans fats from being used in city resturants. An article in today's Baltimore Sun indicates why this may not be the best use of Baltimore city leaders' time:

"You don't want to eliminate the trans fat products and then exchange them for saturated fats. That would defeat the purpose," Dr. Michael Miller, director of the Center for Preventive Cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said yesterday after top Baltimore officials endorsed a ban on trans fats....
Doctors and nutritionists say the benefits of removing them from restaurant fryers and bakery recipes depend on what ingredients are added in their place.
Some potential replacements -- such as peanut, cottonseed and palm oils -- are laden with saturated fats and might be just as bad for consumers as trans fats themselves.

Of course, this critique leaves out the dangers these bans pose to personal liberty, but it's hard to criticize one of the few instances of negative press these trendy bans receive.