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H. Kenneth Woods, chef and owner of Sylvia’s restaurant, cooks fried chicken using a soy bean oil that doesn’t contain trans fats on Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. The city health department has unveiled a proposal banning trans fats. It would bar chefs at thousands of restaurants from using partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, an indisputably unhealthy ingredient.

New York City’s Board of Health unanimously voted on Dec. 3 to ban trans fat in all city restaurants, effective July 2008.

With this new law and the recent regulation by the Food and Drug Administration requiring companies to list the amount of trans fat on nutrition labels, fast food restaurants are beginning to decrease, and sometimes totally cut out, the amount of trans fat in their food.

According to USA Today, restaurant chains such as Arby’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and KFC are in a race to remove trans fat.

Arby’s recent announcement of totally eliminating trans fat from its French fries by the first of May will result in 75 percent of Arby’s menu containing less than half a gram of trans fat, said Roland Smith, Arby’s chief executive officer.

“Clearly our customers have told us that the elimination of trans fat is something they would like us to consider,” Smith said.

Taco Bell has also recently announced its total removal of trans fat from its menu, as did Wendy’s, which switched to trans fat-free oil in August.

“Here you have a case where public policy has done much to improve nutritional selection,” said Lynn Perkes, chair of the Health Science Department.

So why is this sudden decrease in trans fat such a good thing? Perkes said by reducing the amount of trans fat in food, the risks of heart disease are also decreased.

“Trans fatty acids are known to both raise LDL (bad cholesterol) and decrease HDL (good cholesterol). It is a double edged sword,” Perkes said.

According to the FDA, more than 12.5 million Americans have CHD (coronary heart disease) and more than 500,000 people die from its effects each year, making it one of the leading causes of death.

“Some people might still continue to eat junk food, but at least the selection has been improved,” Perkes said.

Trans fatty acids are found in foods such as cakes, cookies, bread, margarine and French fries. According to the FDA, health-conscious consumers should compare similar food items and pick the one with the lower amount of cholesterol and trans fat.