The Government Should Stay Out Of My Stomach And Yours
Wave bye-bye to the sprinkles atop your frozen yogurt!

Now they're banning trans fast -- specifically, trans fat-containing partially hydrogenated oils. Walter Olson blogs at Overlawyered:

Pushed by a lawsuit, the Food and Drug Administration has followed through and banned the use of trans fats in processed food: producers have three years to phase out the substance. I've got a new piece at Cato making a few basic points: the move is sheer paternalism, it's setting a precedent (against voluntary consumer assumption of even small risks) that activists are eager to roll out against other ingredients like salt and sugar, it's not popular with the public (this poll finds a plurality, not majority, going along, while this one finds majorities opposed). And voluntary consumer adjustments (trans fat consumption is down by an estimated 85 percent) have already cut Americans' average daily intake to half of what the American Heart Association recommends.

Then there's the sadly ironic history of the whole subject: trans fats were avidly promoted at the time by the same sorts of public health activists and government nutritionists who now push for a ban.

Ridiculous move by government. I've eaten very low carb since March of 2009 -- against the bad and unscientific advice by government (to eat a high-carb, lowfat -- and unhealthy!) diet.

Eating against the government's unscientific, bad advice, I have the health stats of an elite athlete -- while spending much of the day in a chair, weeping over a keyboard (uh, writing).

I generally avoid eating anything with flour in it, but if I decide to have a trans fat-containing cookie at a party, it's none of the government's damn business. Or should be none of the government's damn business.

Walter Olson also blogs at Cato:

The public is also perfectly capable of recognizing and acting on nutritional advances on its own. Trans fats have gone out of style and consumption has dropped by 85 percent as consumers have shunned them.

...Even if you never plan to consume a smidgen of trans fat ever again, note well: many public health advocates are itching for the FDA to limit allowable amounts of salt, sugar, caffeine, and so forth in food products. Many see this as their big pilot project and test case.