A new study suggests that New York bans on artery-clogging trans fats in restaurant foods led to fewer heart attacks and strokes in several counties.
The study hints at the potential for widespread health benefits from a nationwide ban. The Food and Drug Administration in 2015 gave the food industry until next year to eliminate artificial trans fats from products sold in the US.
New York City in 2007 enacted a restaurant ban on the fats and several counties in the state did the same.
Before-and-after data published in a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association show that hospital admissions for heart attacks and strokes in those areas declined 6% compared with counties without bans. The study says that translates to 43 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 100,000 people. Still, the study merely shows a link between the two things and doesn't definitively conclude that one caused the other.
Given that the FDA's statement says that "there is no safe level of consumption of artificial trans fat," many companies still have quite a bit of work to do.
Here's a list of all the food products we could track down that still contain trans fats, based on one compiled by the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
- Jiffy Pop butter popcorn: 3 grams trans fat per serving (2 tbsp unpopped popcorn)
- Bisquick complete buttermilk biscuits: 2 grams trans fat per serving (1/3 cup mix)
- Duncan Hines whipped chocolate frosting: 2 grams trans fat per serving (3 tbsp)
- Duncan Hines creamy home-Style strawberry cream frosting: 1.5 grams trans fat per serving (2 tbsp)
- Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen onion rings: 3.5 grams trans fat per serving (18 count)
- Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen cajun fries: 3.5 grams trans fat per serving (large fries)
- Blue Bonnet stick margarine: 1.5 grams trans fat per serving (1 tbsp)
- Giant guaranteed value buttery spread sticks: 1.5 grams trans fat per serving (1 tbsp)
- Fleischmann's original stick margarine: 1.5 grams per serving (1 tbsp)
- Turkey Hill party cake ice cream: 1 gram trans fat per 1/2 cup serving
- Sara Lee classic New York style cheesecake: 4 grams trans fat per serving (1/6 cheesecake)
- Sara Lee original cream classic cheesecake: 3 grams trans fat per serving (1/4 cheesecake)
- Betty Crocker Bisquick complete mix cheese garlic biscuits: 2 grams trans fat per serving (1/3 cup mix)
- Betty Crocker petal pink decorating cupcake icing: 1.5 grams trans fat per serving (2 tbsp)
- Cake Mate Coffee House icing creamy coffee: 1.5 grams trans fat per serving (2 tbsp)
- Odom's Tennessee Pride sausage & buttermilk biscuits, snack size: 2 grams trans fat per serving (2 sandwiches)
- Odom's Tennessee Pride chicken & buttermilk biscuits, snack size: 2 grams trans fat per serving (2 sandwiches)