California Bans Restaurants From Using Trans Fats

On Friday, California became the first state to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants . Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a legislation that will ban restaurants and other retail food establishments from using oil, margarine, and shortening that contains trans fats.
This legislation would start to take effect on January 1, 2010. Restaurants that violate the ban could face fines between $25 and $1,000 and the only exception would be food that is sold in manufactures' sealed packaging. Both California and Oregon already have laws that ban trans fat from being served in schools.

Trans fats are naturally in meat and dairy products in small amounts. Most trans fats are made when vegetable oil is treated with hydrogen to make baked and fried foods have a longer shelf life. Trans fats are considered bad because they are supposedly linked to coronary heart disease.

Rapper 50 Cent Sues Taco Bell

The rapper 50 Cent is suing Taco Bell because he says that the restaurant has used his name without his permission in their advertising that asks him to call himself 99 Cent. In a federal lawsuit, he also claimed that the Taco Bell print ad features him asking to change his name to 79 Cent, 89 Cent, or 99 Cent. The ad is part of a Taco Bell "Why Pay More?" campaign that promotes items that cost less than a dollar.

The company supposedly sent a bogus letter that requested the name change to the news media but not to 50 Cent. He didn't find out about the letter or that he was featured in the ad campaigns until he saw a news report about it. He wants $4 million in damages.

Restaurant Smoking Bans Decrease Teen Smoking

A recent study shows that restaurant smoking bans help to persuade teenagers not to become smokers. Teens who lived in towns with strict bans were 40 percent less likely to become regular smokers than teens that lived in communities without bans or that had weak bans. Smoking bans discourage tobacco use and sends out the message that smoking is not healthy. The ban also reduces the amount of smoke that teens are exposed to in public places.

Having a parent or close friend that smokes can be an influence as to whether or not a teenager experiments with cigarettes but strong bans in public places play a bigger role in whether a not the teen will develop a smoking habit. The study also found that the bans had a greater effect on younger teens than older teens.

France Not Promoting Extreme Thinness

France might make it illegal to promote extreme thinness. The French parliament’s lower house adopted a bill that would make it illegal for anything and anyone, including fashion magazines, advertisers, and Web sites, to promote extreme thinness. Judges would be given the power to imprison and fine offenders of the crime up to $47,000 if they are found guilty of “inciting others to deprive themselves of food to an excessive degree.” Judges can also sanction the people or places responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose extreme thinness alters another person’s health.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes after the legislation won support from the ruling conservative UMP party. The bill is going to the Senate very soon. Last week, French lawmakers and fashion industry members signed a nonbinding charter on promoting healthier body images.

Leaders in the French couture are against having legal boundaries on beauty standards but some people also feel that encouraging anorexia or severe weight loss should be punishable in court. Doctors and psychologists that are treating people with anorexia nervosa are in support of the government being involved in the fight against the disease.

The High Costs of Raising Children

It is found that the average cost of raising a child to the age of 21 is $338,000. Providing shelter will cost about $105,000 until the age of 18. Food will cost about $41,400 and health care costs will be about $17,400. The overall average cost also includes the cost of college.

McDonald’s Tries New Feng Shui Design

In California, a McDonald’s restaurant has gotten rid of the plastic furniture and red and yellow design to go for a Feng Shui style with leather seats, earth tone colors, bamboo plants, and water trickling down glass panels. The change is supposed to help their customers achieve happiness and fortune. Feng Shui is the ancient Chinese practice of arranging things and numbers to promote health, harmony, and prosperity.

The design is suppose to create a soothing setting and encourage customers to return. The new design has doors positioned in a way to block out bad spirits and keep good spirits inside. There are eight rows of red tiles near the food counter that symbolize fortune because the number eight is considered auspicious. There are metal sculptures of a crane and Koi fish on one wall that represents fertility and prosperity.

Mississippi Restaurants Banning Fat People

The Mississippi legislature is seriously considering a bill that would ban restaurants from serving food to very overweight people. The law would revoke the license of any restaurant that continues to serve the people. The state currently has a 30 percent obesity rate and they think that they could reduce that by not serving people that are very overweight.

Scientist Explain Reasons for Chocolate Cravings

A study has found there is a type of bacteria in the digestive system that craves chocolate. Everyone has microbes in their stomach but people who have chocolate cravings have different colonies of bacteria.

The study was done by finding 11 men who never ate chocolate and 11 men who ate chocolate everyday. All of the men wee healthy, not obese, and were fed the same foods for five days. The researchers examined the byproducts of their metabolism in their blood and urine and found that a dozen substances were different between the two groups. The amino acid glycine levels were higher in the men that ate chocolate. People who ate chocolate also had lower levels of bad cholesterol.

It is known that bacteria interact with what you eat and studies have shown that intestinal bacteria changes when people lose weight. Someday, some types of obesity will be able to be treated by changing the bacteria in the intestines and stomach.

Why You Should Buy Organic Foods

Organic fruits are products that are free of synthetic pesticides, artificial fertilizers, irradiation, and biotechnology. They are more nutritional because plants produce more vitamins and antioxidants when grown without using pesticides and fertilizers. Organic farmers usually conserve energy and help to protect the environment by growing their foods organic. Not using fertilizers and pesticides reduce pollution of groundwater. Organic agriculture reduces the greenhouse effect and global warming. Organic meat comes from animals that were raised without being fed antibiotics or growth hormones.

When you are shopping for organic foods you should look for the USDA seal. On meat and dairy products, this seal tells you that you are buying antibiotic and hormone-free products.