Today’s news has trumpeted the success of New York’s trans fat ban (http://goo.gl/QngCo ). While the trans fat ban may have indeed been a success, our understanding of what constitutes a public health success has been an utter failure. The trans fat ban was put into place 5 years ago to benefit the health of New York City’s consumers. The one and only goal of the trans fat ban was to decrease levels of low density lipoproteins (LDL) or ‘bad cholesterol’ and triglycerides – health outcomes that are easy to analyze. Yet, the NYC Department of Health has never released a report showing the impact of the trans fat ban on consumer health outcomes. I have regularly called the Department of Health during the last five years, only to get a response saying the report will come soon – a typical, ‘the check is in the mail’ response.

Why have they not done the study? A lame excuse has been that LDL and triglyceride reductions are the result of many factors, so it is hard to figure out what is going on. If that was the case, why such hoopla about trans fats and none if the other factors? No, there are two reasons why we have not seen the NYC health outcomes report. Either the Dept of Health fear that the outcomes are not significant and would rather not bring attention to the matter or they have done the study and do not wish to release the figures. Either way, the trans fat ban cannot be considered a success until its impact on the health of consumers has been demonstrated. Nothing else will do.

Showing that the level of trans fat has dropped is NOT a measure of success. Success can only be measured as the actual impact on the health of consumers. As of this moment in time, we have no such data. Anyone who declares the ban a success at this time has no appreciation of the intended beneficiary – the consumer.