The holiday season arguably isn't the ideal moment to launch a discussion about healthful vs. unhealthful fats. For now, better perhaps to simply enjoy the family food traditions.

But soon enough it'll be Jan. 2, when many of us will start pondering gym memberships — and maybe watching fat intake. That's also when regulatory bodies all over the country should start pondering New York City's recent move to ban most artificial trans fats — partly hydrogenated oils — in restaurant buying and cooking.

At first glance, such a ban seems over the top — a "nanny state" exercise, as some have tagged it. But trans fats are well worth combating at the public health level. Ample research shows that they raise both total cholesterol and so-called bad cholesterol (LDL); they also lower good cholesterol (HDL) — a nasty combination of risk factors that makes trans fats the worst of the fats used in cooking. While it's easy to check grocery-store items for trans fat content since the FDA's food-labeling requirements went into effect this year, eating out is a whole 'nother thing.

Once seen as a wonder ingredient that would protect shelf life while providing the "mouth feel" that people relish in baked goods, artificial trans fat has proved to be a health menace. It needs to fade from use, and protecting those who eat out is a logical next step.