NYC homeless shelters being forced by law to toss donations containing trans-fats

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,843
4,941
136
Jesus. How is anyone alive that didn't know about trans fat?

I mean seriously, everyone before us was unaware. How could they have survived such a horrific ignorance?


Because trans fats have only existed for 100 years; even less time as a major food ingredient.


...the more you know...
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Any food (even if slightly unhealthy) > no food > "dangerous expired food"
Expired food isn't automatically dangerous. It's more of a general guideline like when a light bulb says it will last 1000 hours.

I remember back in collage I took a bunch of expired milk home from McDonalds because McDonalds isn't allowed to sell expired milk but I didn't mind having milk that is 1 day too old. If it smells good and tastes normal, I'm down. I bet homeless people have even lower standards than this.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
LOL... I wonder if they asked the hungry homeless about their opinion. :confused:

I am sure they value their input as much as the anti-GMO crowd values input from third-world countries with starving populations that would be very grateful for the technology.
 
Last edited:

feralkid

Lifer
Jan 28, 2002
16,843
4,941
136
What was the consensus of medical opinion regarding trans fats less than 20 years ago? ;)


Their hadn't been a whole lot of studies at that point. Like I said, trans-fats are relatively new in the food supply.
 

Vic

Elite Member
Jun 12, 2001
50,422
14,337
136
Their hadn't been a whole lot of studies at that point.

There had been TONS of studies, and they all said we should consume trans fat over other types of fats, especially saturated fats like those in butter and lard. That's where there was a boom in margarine consumption in the 70s-90s and why they still sell margarine products with brand names like "I can't believe it's not butter."

I'm not questioning medical science here, I'm questioning the kneejerk morons who believe in absolutes. Basically, science learned that trans fats were bad by encouraging people to consume them. Not intentionally, but because otherwise they wouldn't have had the data. Now we know better. But we should go forward with the rational understanding of the limitations of our knowledge and how we derive it, and not with the same all or nothing we had before.