Oatmeal and trans-fat - the Quaker Oats lie

Oatmeal is one of the best breakfast meals to have.  Oatmeal has abundant amounts of fiber, is low in fat while it fills your stomach.  I love oatmeal - - between that and cereal, it's a great way to go with egg whites and Orange Juice (yes I really LOVE OJ). 

Companies such as Quaker Oats put an emphasis that oatmeal is heart healthy and good for you - - they are correct.   Here is one package that shows it's good for you, it's on all of the Quaker oatmeal products. 

However on some of the packages, particularly oatmeal with "cream" added to a fruit flavoring, there is the silent killer ingredient - - Partially-Hydrogenated Vegetable/Soybean Oil. It's added to the cream (like the coffee creamer powdered products.) , baking products and is "naturally" present in red meat.

Partially or fully hydrogenated oils (PHO) contain trans-fat - - the most unhealthy fat in the world. This is because hydrogen is added to certain foods which creates an airy process and can turn solid at room temperature, thus food is preserved longer.  Now imagine the man-made oil process hardening in your arteries for life, increasing your chances of a heart attack.  And Quaker Oatmeal puts the false claim "heart healthy" in their cream based oatmeal as well as all of their oatmeal products.  No wonder Quaker was sued in federal court over the PHO use as well as their false claims - a Federal judge approved a settlement on this matter.  Other large chain stores who produce their own oatmeal, such as Wal-Mart's Great Value oatmeal products also use the "Heart Healthy" tagline in their oatmeal products, including cream based oatmeal which contains the PHO ingredient. 

 

 

 

 

Even though a federal judge approved the settlement which required Quaker to remove all PHOs from their oatmeal and related products by the end of 2015, they continue to use this false "heart healthy" advertising.  Quaker can remove this deadly claim from their packaging (cream based oatmeal and multi flavor packs which have cream as one of their 3 or 4 varieties in the same package) immediately as they have demonstrated that they have zero concern for their consumers who buy Quaker products.  The actual removal of the PHO ingredient can still tae place by end of 2015.  PHO is a deadly ingredient which has been linked to 20,000 heart attacks each year and really should be banned as an added ingredient, period.  Quaker and store chains should take action and remove the "heart healthy" claim on packaging with PHOs now. 

MTA steals credit from Port Authority on CNN's top stations list

Hypothetically, if William Shakespeare posted on Facebook a "top ten" list of CNN's best books to read and the great writer noted that two of his literary works made  #4 and #5 on CNN's list, but one of them was Pride and Prejudice, then how would Jane Austen feel if Shakespeare stole credit for one of her books?  Ms.  Austen would probably be ticked off.  Of course this would be all imaginary but what the MTA did on Friday was real, stealing credit for something which is clearly not theirs.  CNN posted the 11 most amazing train stations in the world including Melbourne's Southern Cross Railway in Australia, Germany's Hundertwasser Bahnhof and others.  The MTA posted the CNN story on their Facebook page, saying "we made #4 and #5 on the list".  I would congratulate the MTA on making such a distinguished list - - twice (and the only agency to have two stations on that list)

But guess what was 4 and 5 on CNN's list?  The World Trade Center Transportation Hub and Grand Central Terminal respectively.  Wait!!!!  I said the WTC hub - - that's a Port Authority project, not the MTA.  How can the MTA claim it's theirs when they should know better not to steal credit from the Port Authority?  

 The MTA does own Grand Central and for 101 years, this terminal is a landmark of epic  proportions.  The WTC may not be a landmark and the price tag may be exorbitant but making CNN's top 11 station list is well deserved.  However the MTA has once again made a serious and embarrassing error in laying claim to a structure which is not theirs.  If the MTA doesn't even know their assets, how can they fail in their social media skills?  What makes this scary is that if the MTA makes a blatant error in this Facebook post, how many errors will they make in protecting our system from the next Hurricane Sandy?   How can they tells us to "see something?  Say something" when they don't know their own regional network?