Calgary Goes "TF-Free"

If New Yorkers, with their love of curbside instant meals, can go trans fat free, so can Calgarians, says Dr. Brent Friesen, Medical Officer of Health for the Calgary Region. ”New York found that food services could move quickly by eliminating trans fats in oils used for cooking and frying,” he says, “so we hope we can move just as quickly.”

The health region was inspired by the June 2006 final report of The Trans Fat Task Force, jointly chaired by Health Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. It found that 22 per cent of Canadians’ average trans fat intake is provided by fast foods. Now the Calgary health authority is pushing ahead with a proposal to ban harmful man-made trans fats by the fall of 2008. (Naturally occurring trans fats in beef and dairy products are thought to be beneficial to health.)

Industrially produced trans fats are formed during partial hydrogenation, a process used to harden and stabilize liquid vegetable oils. The majority of the trans fats in Albertans’ diets are industrially produced and found in foods like margarine, crackers, packaged cookies and pastries and many other baked and fried foods. Trans fatty acids raise harmful LDL-cholesterol levels. Health Canada says a significant and growing body of evidence links manufactured trans fats to coronary heart disease.

“We’re hoping the industry can switch to healthier alternatives,” says Dr. Friesen. “In our new children’s hospital we eliminated all frying oils and instead use high temperature convection ovens to produce similar but much healthier food.”

Friesen says the ban will help make the healthier choice the easiest choice. “It’s possible to see an immediate improvement. If you have an opportunity to reduce heart disease by six to 22 per cent, as studies suggest, it’s important to move forward.”