New York City had started trans fat ban due to its unhealthy effects. Afterward, a research team analyzed hospital records and concluded an astonishing result from the partially hydrogenated fat ban.
NBC News reported that the trans fat ban in New York City restaurants, bakeries, caterers, cafeterias, soup kitchens and street booths started last July 2007. It was then mentioned that a research team from Yale University had analyzed the data from the New York State Department of Public Health from 2002-2013 to compare and discover results.
Trans fat was identified to be unsaturated fats widely used in snacks, baked package goods, and frying foods to enhance shelf life and flavor. Trans fat was also mentioned to increase a person’s LDL (bad cholesterol) but it differs with saturated fat in terms that it decreases a person’s HDL (good cholesterol) as well. Lowered HDL was identified to increase the risk of clogged arteries, unhealthy blood vessels, and heart diseases. Hence, the trans fat ban was introduced.
Afterward, the team discovered a 6.2 percent decline in hospital admissions for strokes and heart attacks since the trans fat ban. The study’s promising results regarding New Yorker’s health was mentioned to be published in the Journal of American Medical Association Cardiology.
"When we looked at what happened [three years] after bans were implemented, there was a 6.2 percent decline in heart attacks and strokes," said Dr. Eric Brandt from Yale University's School of Medicine. The trans fat ban findings were then interpreted by the team to be 43 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 100,000 people per Olive Oil Times.
“A nationwide trans fat ban is a win for the millions of people at risk for cardiovascular disease,” Brandt added pertaining to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nationwide trans fat ban. The nationwide ban which is mentioned to take effect in 2018 was estimated by the FDA to possibly prevent estimated 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from heart attacks.
Yet, the downside of the trans fat ban was mentioned to be people turning to palm oil instead. Palm oil being healthy is indeed true but its disadvantage is that some palm oil harvest areas result in mangrove tree forest destruction and orangutan declines.
