Are The Oils Being Substituted For Trans Fats Healthy, Or Just Cheaper?

by Anne Hart, The Examiner, Sacramento
Posted: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 at 11:42AM EST

How many restaurants are using rice bran oil rather than the new change from trans fats to soybean or canola oil? And are the oils being substituted for the old hydrogenated oils (called trans fats) in restaurants or in commercial baked goods really that much healthier or merely cheap and maybe somewhat more healthy?

According to the Sacramento Bee article of December 28, 2009, "California restaurants can't use trans fats as of Jan. 1," by Jim Sanders, which also is one article in an ongoing series about new state laws that take effect on January 1, 2010, California is going to stop eateries from cooking with trans fat starting New Year's Day.

That's a mighty resolution because California is the first state to stop restaurants from using trans fats as shortening to fry food in because trans fats raise your bad cholesterol, LDL, and lower your good cholesterol, HDL. Trans fats are notorious for the role they play in opening the pathway for hardening of the arteries by inflammation, increasing the number of strokes, angina, and coronary heart disease. Trans fats are those hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils you find in baked goods and other foods.

To read the rest of this story please go to: The Examiner, Sacramento