Denmark an Example After Transfat Ban

Arne Ploug-Jacobsen, who has worked at La Glace bakery for 40 years, and Annette Jiel Mortensen, prepare danish at the famed bakery in Copenhagen, Denmark Monday Oct. 16, 2006. Denmark's elimination of transfat has proven to be a model for the rest of the world. Two years ago Denmark declared war on killer fat, making it illegal for any food to have more than 2 percent transfats. Offenders now face hefty fines - or even prison terms. (AP Photo/John McConnico) (John Mcconnico - AP)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Two years ago Denmark declared war on killer fat, making it illegal for any food to have more than 2 percent transfats. Offenders now face hefty fines _ or even prison terms. The result? Today hardly anyone notices the difference.

The french fries are still crispy. The pastries are still scrumptious. And the fried chicken is still tasty.

Denmark's experience offers a hopeful example for places like Canada and the U.S. state of New York, which are considering setting limits on the dangerous artery-clogging fats.

Transfatty acids are typically added to processed foods such as cookies, margarine and fast food. They are cheaper to produce than mono-saturated fats, and give a longer shelf life to the foods they are added to.

Producers also argue that removing transfat from processed food will change certain tastes and textures beloved by consumers.

But they have been called the tobacco of the nutrition world. They lower good cholesterol while raising bad cholesterol.

Even consuming less than five grams of transfat _ the amount found in one piece of fried chicken and a side of french fries _ a day has been linked with a 25 percent increased risk of heart disease.

"No other fat at these low levels of intake, has such harmful effects," said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist at Harvard's School of Public Health.

It is still too early to tell if removing transfat from food in Denmark has improved the country's health.

Although the Danish health ministry reports that cardiovascular disease has dropped by 20 percent in the last five years, similar reductions have been reported in other countries that are making an effort to combat heart disease by measures such as regulating the food and tobacco industries, and by educating the public about the need to exercise. In countries that are making no effort to regulate the amount of transfat in food, such as Hungary and Bulgaria, heart disease rates have continued to climb.

Denmark is the only country to have outlawed the fat, passing a law in June 2003 that made it illegal for any food to contain more than two percent of transfat.

For Danes like Troels Nyborg Andersen, the government's decision means he feels less guilty about his fast-food habit.