Deep-Fried Confusion

Whenever I think about deep-fried fair food (candy bars, and now Oreos, “Pepsi” and even pizza), I immediately flash to that “King of the Hill” episode (yes, I’m a cartoon junkie—you get such a higher level of acting and consistent performance on those shows) where the men (sans Hank, the voice of reason) come across a deep fryer and begin frying everything in sight, including whole potatoes, with unabashed glee (after Bill deep-fries a banana, he quips: “This banana is delicious. The monkeys must never find out.”). Of course, this leads to predictable levels of hilarious mayhem.

And personally, I’m all for the concept. Deep-fried fair food is fun. There’s nothing wrong with it—as long as such fare doesn’t form a regular part of your diet…

But when people begin thinking that deep-fried Snickers bars are suddenly better for you now that they’re fried without trans fats, as is alluded to in a recent New York Times article, we’re in trouble.

If you just read the first part of the article, you could very easily think that the journalist, perhaps by way of reflecting public opinion, is suggesting that trans-free deep-fried food is “healthier”—even going to the length of suggesting that you can now eat more of it. Luckily some degree of reason helps balance the article, noting the heavy marketing angle of going trans-free and the weighty issue of caloric intake (although nobody talks about the issue of swapping trans fats for perhaps equally dangerous saturated fats … still waiting for more science on the issue of how different saturated fats might impact our health…).

The point here is that we really need to be careful how we address health issues in society. Banning all trans fats forever to the fiery pit is not going to solve our health problems, and likely has absolutely nothing to do with our obesity problem in this country (sure, it contributes to coronary heart disease, and I agree with phasing it out over time, but it certainly didn’t merit the Chicken Little approach so many folks have adopted…). It’s too late for trans fats—the politicians and marketers have already taken that ball and run with it—but we should consider more-reasonable approaches to dietary change in the future to avoid confusing consumers already approaching a state of information overload, a state that can lead to countertrends of increased indulgence, which are already showing sings of manifesting themselves.

But that’s a topic for another day.