In The News: Boston Bans Trans Fats

Boston's trans fat ban officially began this past Saturday, affecting approximately 5,600 of the city's eating establishments.

Beantown joins New York City, Philadelphia, Tiburon (a small city in California), San Francisco, Maryland's Montgomery County and New York's Albany County in banning the artificial fat.

It's rather disconcerting that some people still don't understand the thought process behind this policy.

Well, here's a nice gem from the Boston Globe article:

"Studies estimate that having as few as 40 calories of trans fat a day can boost the risk of a heart attack by 23 percent."

FYI -- 40 calories of trans fat equal roughly 5.5 grams of the substance (a large order of Burger King fries offers 6 grams).

And here's a fun fact: Denmark was the first country to ban trans fats back in 2003.

So far, the only other nationwide ban happened in Switzerland.