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Comment and Health

Backstreet fried chicken shops must stop using killer trans fat

Cheap fast food in deprived pockets of the UK has slipped through the net in the war on harmful trans fats. Time to dish up a solution, says Anthony Warner

By Anthony Warner

12 July 2017

A bowl of fried chicken

It may taste good but it’s not good for your body

Debbi Smirnoff/Getty

I am no fan of demonising particular food choices, or of people permanently cutting anything out of their diet, with one exception. There is good evidence that partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (HVOs) containing trans fats are very damaging to health.

In the US, they have been deemed unsafe for human consumption in any amount, with a complete ban from next year.

We have known about their downsides, particularly an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, since the 1990s,…

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