Many restaurants believe the ban is troublesome and unnecessary. Some chains, including McDonalds, are even considering filing a legal suit against the ban. "This is a misguided attempt at social engineering by a group of physicians who don't understand the restaurant industry," National Restaurant Association representative Dan Flesher said in a Dec. 6 New York Times article. McDonalds is not alone in such thinking. The New York ruling is being branded a government intrusion into free enterprise and civil liberties.

These critics make a good point: Although trans-fats are a serious health risk, a ban is not the right approach. People should instead be educated about healthy eating and given the information they need to make their own health choices. As part of this effort, restaurants should display information about trans-fat content on their menus to both educate the public and pressure restaurants to make healthy choices as well.

In a ruling following the ban, the New York Board of Health ordered all restaurants that display calorie information in their menus to also list trans-fats, which takes a good step in this direction.

Trans-fats are artery clogging particles that lower the body's good cholesterol levels down while raising the bad cholesterol levels. The good cholesterol, high density lipoprotein, or commonly known as HDL, carries bad cholesterol away from the arteries, where it blocks blood flow, into the liver where it is passed out of the body. An excess of bad cholesterol can lead to heart disease, diabetes and stroke among other things. Continual intake of trans-fats can also lead to obesity, one of America's top health concerns.

The damage that trans-fats cause is well-documented. In 2001, Kylie Kavanagh, a researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina conducted experiments on monkeys that showed startling results. The monkeys fed a diet that included 8 percent trans-fats and 27 percent other oils gained 7.6 percent more body weight over six years, mostly around their midriffs, despite efforts at weight loss through exercise. Monkeys fed mono-unsaturated fats such as olive oil instead of trans-fats only gained 1.8 percent more body weight.

These results are disturbing considering that the average American consumes 4.7 pounds of trans-fats a year, according to Kavagagh. In an attempt to address this problem, some restaurants have already committed to avoiding trans-fats. Kentucky Fried Chicken, for example, vowed to start using healthier oils to cook food in all of its 5,500 locations starting in April 2007.

It's not like other restaurant owners actually want to kill you; they're looking for better ways to profit from business, something completely understandable to anyone who works. Restaurants use trans-fats because they are cheap, easy to work with and have a long shelf life. "This will be better for people's health, but we'd like to know where to go from here," O'Neil Whyte, a baker at Sweet Chef Southern Styles Bakery in Harlem said of the New York ban. "Things without trans-fats are harder to get and more expensive."

Foods that often contain trans-fats — the ones that have prompted worries from cooks and consumers about an increase in cost and a reduction in taste and quality — include fried foods like French fries and donuts. Some Bay Area restaurants choose to cook such items without trans-fats — even without a ban. "We stay current with our trusted news sources," said Daniel Capra, executive chef of Boulette's Larder. "It was really a no-brainer given the overwhelming proof from the medical community about the health concerns from trans-fat products." The restaurant replaced fryer oil with a non-trans-fat canola or corn oil blend and began using trans-fat-free substitutes in pastries where they may have once used Crisco, Capra explained. He said that the cost of the switch to healthier oil has not been prohibitive but has only been "pennies on the dollar." "We have really not felt any impact on our food cost since we made the switch," Capra added.

In fact, Boulette's Larder, a restaurant in the San Francisco Ferry Building, has encountered few inconveniences in switching from trans-fats. "It's actually quite easy," Capra said. "We have been trans-fat free for almost two years now."

Capra and Boullette's Larder are not alone in their avoidance of trans-fats. Quinn McKenna, the vice president of the Lark Creek Restaurant Group, also chooses other options. "We cook on the stove top with butter and olive oil and use canola oil in our fryers — so no trans-fat there," he explained. The restaurant group still serves foods often made with trans-fats.

Restaurants should make their own choices concerning the ingrediants they use and consumers should likewise make their own choices regarding food.