Dennis and Judy Langdon ate french fries Tuesday afternoon for the first time in a long while.

They normally skip them because fries are so fattening, but that changed after Peaches Family Restaurant owner Bill Douglass told them the restaurant had begun using non-trans fat cooking oil.

"We said we'll try them," said Judy Langdon, who regularly dines with her husband at the fast food restaurant. "The no trans fat definitely made our decision to buy them."

Peaches Family Restaurant is just one of several Casper restaurants that do not use cooking oil that contains trans fats. Peaches got rid of the oil two weeks ago, following a trend across the country.

KFC Corp. announced Monday it would start using zero trans fat soybean oil in some of its fried chicken and other menu items, while the Wendy's hamburger chain has already made the transition.

Several U.S. cities including New York and Chicago are trying to ban restaurants from serving food containing trans fat.

Trans fat is found in foods cooked in vegetable shortening or oils. It is in crackers, candies, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, baked goods and other processed foods.

It's made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil in a process called hydrogenation, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats.

Joe Grandpre, Wyoming's deputy state epidemiologist, said trans fats increase LDL, or bad cholesterol and decreases HDL, or good cholesterol.

"Everyone has said there is no safe level of trans fat," Grandpre said. "They are trying to get rid of as much of it as possible."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates the average American adult eats 5.8 grams of trans fat a day, and Grandpre said this contributes to the high obesity and heart disease rates in the state.

He said almost one and four Wyoming adults were obese in 2005, which was about a 4 percent increase from 2004.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the state and the country. Grandpre said there were 934 heart disease cases in the state in 2004.

But even though nutritionists believe trans fat is unhealthy, they don't believe banning it in restaurants will solve the state's problems with obesity and heart disease.

"The country latches onto one thing," said Suzanne Pelican, food and nutrition specialist for the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extensive Service. "We need to be focusing on a healthy lifestyle overall. What about eating more fruits and vegetables?"

Also, she said some restaurants will get rid of its trans fat oil and replace it with another fatty oil.

Jim McBride at the Johnson Restaurant Group, which owns Eggington's, Old Chicago and Johnny J's Diner, agrees that switching to a non-trans fat oil does not mean a restaurant suddenly becomes healthy.

He said 40 percent of a person's trans fat intake comes from baked goods like cakes and cookies, making the fried food issue not as significant.

Even so, the three restaurants in the group do not use trans fat cooking oil in their friers or on their grills.

Jason Beck, owner-operator of the Wonder Bar, said he has tossed around the idea of switching to a non-trans fat oil but decided not to because he has not seen a big push for it.

He said the restaurant uses a typical vegetable oil, but if he heard customers asking for a non-trans fat oil, he would start looking into it.

Douglass, the owner of Peaches Family Restaurant, said he researched and experimented with non-trans fat oil for several months before he finally made the decision to switch to a canola oil from a vegetable oil two weeks ago.

"One of my main concerns was taste," Douglass said. "I didn't want to risk that. I tried it for a week and no one noticed a difference. I even asked a couple people."

Dennis Langdon said the french fries were "delicious" and he ate them all.

He said eating them all was OK since they no longer contain trans fat and have only half of the saturated fat they did before.

But Pelican, with the coooperative extension, hopes people remember all types of fat have calories and large intakes of calories cause weight gain.

"I think it is really good when a restaurant tries to better people's lives," Pelican said. "But just focusing on trans fat leads us down a path with a dead end."

Reach reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or at allison.rupp@casperstartribune.net.