Ok. Don’t get me wrong, as a public health advocate I think it’s fantastic that New York has banned trans fat. Now, I just read that Disney is banning all trans fat at it’s theme parks. Wow!!!

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4885433

Again, just like McDonalds pushing health, having cities, and companies such as Disney ban trans fat is a big deal--health has finally become trendy. Which means that maybe public health might be accomplishing something. So, yes, banning trans fat is important for heart health. Especially when the AP says that we consume as much as 5 pounds of it per year—that’s a lot.

However, I’m not sure what everyone is expecting as a result of this ban.   I haven’t seen one story that talks about the actual impact of banning trans fat in city, state, county, etc…So, while this is a step in the right direction, because at least governments and coporations are thinking about creating a healthier environment, it will not provide significant benefits short term.  It's certainly not going to have the impact that banning smoking has had on health. An ecological or wholistic approach is needed to make a real impact on the health of our community. But the overall good new is that health has become trendy.

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