Oil Change in Calgary

Healthy Living —Food & Nutrition
Arlen Panchoo

Calgary started 2008 by making history as the first Canadian city to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants. On January 1, all margarines, spreads, and oils used for cooking in restaurants were limited to a maximum of two percent trans fats of the total fat content in foods.

According to a CBC report, trans fats are suspected of killing up to 5,000 Canadians each year through heart disease. Trans fats have also been linked to unhealthy levels of cholesterol.

Unlike other types of fats, trans fats (AKA partially hydrogenated oils) are not required by the body, and they are not beneficial for health. Though trans fats occur naturally in milk and in the meat of animals like beef or sheep, the levels are low – two to five percent.

In the food industry, (particularly fast food) they are usually derived from foods that are processed, and can compose up to 45 percent of the total fat content.

Trans fats are preferentially used in most restaurants to non-trans fats alternatives because they are cheap, have longer shelf lives, and produce a rich texture in foods.

Due to the molecular configuration of trans fats, they remain in a solid state in the human body, which not only increases the chance of a heart attack, but can worsen the severity of heart attacks. According to research by the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, trans fats can even disrupt heart rhythm, increasing the likelihood of cardiac arrest.

Canadians had one of the highest intakes of trans fats in the world in the mid 1990s. Although the situation has improved since then, the Calgary government saw an opportunity to regulate trans fats with a number of expected positive results:

providing healthy fat alternatives to Canadians

reducing daily intakes of trans fats to under 1% to be consistent with current dietary recommendations

significantly improving the heart and health of Canadians, to save lives and take the strain off medical personnel and tax payers who pay for those services.

Calgary used various sources to gather research before going ahead with this mandate, including Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-foods Canada, the World Health Organization, and other expert committees on fats.

Calgary health inspectors are giving restaurants five months to adjust. Then, violations will be posted on the health region’s website. If violations persist, those restaurants could be shut down.

But Calgary isn’t stopping with restaurants. The reduction of trans fats in restaurants is only Phase 1. Starting July 1, 2009, Phase 2 will commence that targets the reduction of trans fats in any food products, including those found at the supermarket.

According to the government report on the mandate, the purpose is to “find a solution that would encompass both manufactured foods and foods prepared in retail and food service establishments (e.g. in restaurants, food service operations and some grocery store bakeries and outlets).”

Part of the mandate also involves assisting restaurants and industry organizations in finding replacement fats that are more health-conscious. Substitutes like canola oil and olive oil are being recommended.

Calgary’s trans fat ban campaign even has a slogan – Have you changed your oil yet?

But health experts are telling Canadians that good health is still up to the individual. Foods like pastries and donuts won’t become healthy all-of-a-sudden.

“Banning trans fat is a good step, but we need to think about education and maybe try to encourage Canadians to eat better,” says a spokesperson from the Dieticians of Canada in Montreal, in an interview with MacLean’s.

Some restaurant owners in Calgary have said that at first, people complained because the food didn’t taste as good without the trans fat oil used in cooking. But people are readjusting as they became more concerned about their health than the taste.

The Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation reports that about 40 percent of Canadians eat out on a regular basis. A study conducted by the Canadian Council of Food and Nutrition in 2006 shows that that number is closer to 67 percent. And one-fifth of Canadians eat at restaurants two to three times a week.

But Calgary is not the first North American city to ban trans fats. Last December, the Board of Health in New York City begun an initiative to make the city completely trans fat free by July of this year.

There have been mixed reactions to the ban and some New Yorkers were outraged. MSNBC reports that one restaurant owner stated, “we don’t think that a municipal health agency has any business banning a product the Food and Drug Administration has already approved.” Restaurant owners also said that it was unrealistic to change ingredients in their foods within the six month limit.

But many American cities and organizations are realizing the potential positive health impact of a reduction in trans fats. Philadelphia is now also trans fat free, and Boston is mobilizing to do the same. Even MacDonald’s has been transitioning out of using trans fats, and will completely do so across America this year, according to USA Today.

Other Canadian cities seem to be following Calgary’s lead. According to the Calgary Sun, a council committee in Winnipeg decided in a unanimous vote to examine the pros and cons of restricting trans fats in restaurants.

Edmonton and Toronto are among the other Canadian cities considering reductions in trans fat.