Transfat is the latest fiasco in the world of regulation and the health nuts are getting worse. It amazes me that we glamorize the organic trends and stores like Whole Foods at the same time that our country is getting less and less healthy.  Just look at obesity trends in adults and especially children over the past few decades.  Health nuts would point to that statement and say, “See you just made our point, we need more regulation to make sure that this trend does not continue.”  Get real - regulation’s effect on unhealthy behavior has a terrible track record.
In the most extreme case of regulating health, we amended the Constitution to ban alcohol consumption and it was a giant failure.  On a smaller scale,  I don’t think cigarette label warnings are the reasons someone quits smoking and yet, that little bit of printed regulation must give a bunch of people a weird sense of accomplishment.  I wonder how many alcoholics went cold turkey into soberness after reading that alcohol can impair your ability to drive a car.  I am not saying these things are bad, but let’s not believe they are the answer to improved health.

Health nuts were on a different spree a few years ago with the movement to require McDonalds and other restaurants to post nutrition facts on items like Big Macs.   I guess someone was confused that fast food was actually healthy.  The whole Menu Labeling regulation was a waste of time so now it appears they are trying to win this by removing one unhealthy ingredient at a time, starting with transfat.  What’s next on the health nut list?  I am guessing that salt has contributed to more deaths than transfat, so maybe we should ban that too.  And sugar isn’t good for your teeth or weight so let’s get rid of that.  Of course this is all absurd.  We can try to regulate healthy behavior but it will fail in all ways except spending taxes and allowing people to ignore their personal responsibility to exercise and eat a balanced diet.