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Mayor's munchies trump city policy

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | jsilverman@am-ny.com

January 9, 2008

They may be too unhealthy for regular New Yorkers to eat, but not so for Mayor Michael Bloomberg, apparently.

After gaining national media attention for spearheading an almost total ban on trans fats in city restaurants, Bloomberg was photographed in this month's issue of Wired magazine munching on those very same dangerous fats.

The photo, which accompanies a short Q&A about technology and politics, features Bloomberg at his City Hall desk, looking thoughtful and serious. Meanwhile, his right hand seems almost absent-mindedly pulling a Cheez-It out of a single-serving bag of the crackers.

The reader can only assume that the baked snack cracker is headed for the mayor's mouth, and along with it some of the half-gram of trans fat found in every serving of Cheez-Its.

The mayor's food choice directly counters the guidance of his own Department of Health, which specifies on its Web site that "there is no safe level of artificial trans-fat consumption." The site also points out that trans fats are responsible for at least 500 deaths in the city every year from heart disease.

That should be cautious news for Bloomberg, who in 2000 had a pair of stents inserted in his coronary artery to remove a blockage. The mayor says he takes a baby aspirin daily to reduce the risk of heart attack.

"The mayor is in favor of labeling and making informed choices," said Bloomberg spokesman Jason Post, who also pointed out that a reduced-fat version of Cheez-Its contains less trans fat. It's unclear which kind sits on the mayor's desk in the photograph.

"Trans fats cause heart attacks," said Julie Greenstein, of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which lobbied for the city ban.

"Trans fats raise bad cholesterol and decrease good cholesterol." Greenstein said even small amounts of trans fats in the diet can cause big problems over time.

"If someone is concerned about heart health, he should cut out trans fat completely," she said.

Bloomberg on Trans-Fat

"You're getting an ingredient out that nobody is going to miss." September 2006

"We're not trying to take away anybody's ability to go out and have the kind of food they want in the quantities they want, but we are trying to make that food safer. If we can do it without trans fats, you'll save, ... a couple of hundred lives a year in New York City."

December 2006

"No trans fats whatsoever."

This week, when asked about the ingredients of three Junior's cheesecakes he brought to an Oklahoma political conference.

What's in a 42g package of Cheez-It
- 220 calories
- 11g total fat
- 360mg sodium
- 25g carbohydrate
- 5g protein