“Start hoarding doughnuts,” said Scott Shackford in Reason.com. The Food and Drug Administration is finally banning trans fats. This artificially produced lard substitute—made by using hydrogen to thicken vegetable oil—transformed our processed foods, extending the shelf life and improving the taste and texture of countless staples, including doughnuts, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, and canned cake frosting. Problem was, trans fats also happened to be “amazingly bad for you,” said Aaron Carroll in CNN.com. Not only do these artery-cloggers increase our levels of bad cholesterol, but they actively lower your level of good cholesterol, too. By announcing its intention to blacklist trans fats last week—essentially eradicating them from our diets altogether—the FDA will prevent about 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease annually. Goodbye, trans fats, “and good riddance.”
Of course trans fats are unhealthy, said Helena Bottemiller Evich in Politico.com. But so are saturated fats. In fact, hydrogenated products like margarine were promoted as health foods in comparison to their saturated counterparts, like butter and coconut oil. Now we’re told they’re actually worse for us and that companies should replace them, but what’s to say scientists won’t reverse their opinion again in 10 year’s time? Meanwhile, banishing trans fats from the food supply could have unintended consequences: “America’s favorite snacks won’t last as long on grocery store shelves, they could be more expensive, and they might not taste as good.” This is what our nanny-state government does now, “day in, day out,” said Jonah Goldberg in NationalReview.com. It tells you what to eat and to do, since “it assumes you’re stupid.”
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