A Life and Death Issue for Communities of Color

The New York City Department of Health is moving ahead with a plan to get the city’s restaurants to cut down on the amount of artificial trans fat in the food they serve the public.  The department is proposing a partial phase-out that would remove most artificial trans fat from restaurant cooking over an 18-month period.  Artificial trans fat is an unnecessary and dangerous ingredient in food.  It has been shown to increase so-called bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease.

What has all this to do with low-income New Yorkers, particularly people of color, the primary constituency of my organization, the Community Service Society?  I see trans fat as a life and death issue for these communities, crossing boundaries from health to jobs to education.

Cutting down on trans fat makes good sense for public health reasons.  But we at CSS have seen further evidence of the effects of poor health.  Data from our recent annual survey of low-income New Yorkers, The Unheard Third, show a surprisingly high incidence of health problems among unemployed New Yorkers.  In our survey, 25 percent of respondents who were jobless mentioned health problems as a factor that made their search for a job difficult.  This was a higher percentage than other, more obvious reasons - not enough prior experience (18%) and not enough education or training (17%).

Dietary Disaster

Trans fat is prominent in fast foods.  The lack of access to fresh produce and the prevalence of fast food restaurants in many low-income neighborhoods have contributed to a dietary disaster, an epidemic of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  Low-income families, often paying more than half their earnings for rent, are left with an average of only $30 a week per person to cover all other needs.  This situation often forces them to skip meals or make unhealthy choices such as fast food packed with trans fat.

The health problems of communities of color are well documented.  According to a University of Michigan study conducted between 2001 and 2003, African Americans had higher rates than whites for three major chronic health problems: high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.  The prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure was especially high among African American women, with 35.4 percent reporting high blood pressure and 12.3 percent reporting diabetes.

The prevalence of diabetes among African Americans is about 70 percent higher than among white Americans.  Twenty-five percent of blacks between the ages of 65 and 74 have diabetes, including one in four black women 55 years of age or older.  According to the National Diabetes Education Program, the prevalence of type-2 diabetes is two times higher among Latinos than among non-Latino whites.

Health problems
in our
communities

Add to this the fact that African Americans and Latinos are much more likely to be uninsured than the rest of the population.  In 2005, 14.1 million Latinos were without health insurance, an increase of 2.2 million since 2000.  In 2005, the number of African Americans without health insurance was 7.5 million, increasing by 795,000 since 2000.

The high incidence of these health problems in communities of color serves to undermine job retention, particularly among low-income workers engaged in physical labor.  This is exacerbated by their lack of health benefits and paid sick days.  Our survey revealed that among full-time low-wage workers, only 45 percent had health insurance and 46 percent got paid sick leave.

Exploiting Children

One result of welfare reform was the entrance of many single mothers of color into the work force.  Many of their school age children are disproportionately latchkey kids who watch hours of television where they are bombarded by ads for sugar-laden greasy foods.  They are easy prey to the junk food industry and the fast food chains that see them as markets they can readily exploit.  The prevalence of junk food in schools only adds to the problem.

A steady diet of fast foods – laced with trans fat - is not only unhealthy for children, leading to obesity and, later in life, to diabetes and heart disease.  Poor nutrition can seriously impair their ability to function well in school, damaging chances for an adequate education and job prospects.  Seen this way, fast food diets are an impediment to a successful future for mostly poor African American and Latino youngsters.  

Artificial trans fat kills at least 500 people in New York City every year, more than the number that die in motor vehicle accidents.  Yet the Health Department has determined that artificial trans fat can be easily replaced by healthier oils without changing the taste of foods.

Cutting down on trans fat in our food is a good move.  For communities of color, it will have benefits that go beyond matters of health, affecting many facets of our everyday lives.

From the New York Amsterdam News
October 19 - 25, 2006