"why buy butter if you can buy margarine cheaper?"
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Margarine is what you put on cheap biscuits. :) My wife is from farther north and jokes that we put a stick of butter in everything down here. Nothing cooks and tastes like real butter.
My point was, Wendy's isn't going to save anybody or have any significant inpact on anyone's life buy doing this. People eat more unhealthy foods at home than they do out, I'll bet.
It used to be margarine was what I put on and in everything since I'm allergic to butter! Then I incidentally got my cholesterol checked and that put an end to that. Since then I'm zero trans-fat and my cholesterol last check was down just to slightly elevated. Unfortunately it takes time to correct it.
I've noticed since the regulations requiring trans fat content be listed on the packaging went into effect at the beginning of the year several products have changed their recipes to eliminate trans fats. Pop-Tarts, for instance, used to contain trans fat and now have none. This voluntary elimination of trans fat on the part of manufacturers will lower people's intake at home.
I read a kind of funny article in a medical journal (JAMA?) not too long ago where a group of doctors did an informal survey by collecting samples of their lunches while they were out travelling around Europe and analyzed them for trans fats. Their conclusions were that a single meal at most fast-food restaurants would supply a person's maximum daily limit of trans fats and sometimes in excess of that. This is a concern because some people eat at fast food restaurants multiple times a week and sometimes a day.
I'm not in favor of regulating the trans fat content of food, but I do think that it ought to be posted or available on request since consumers ought to be able to find out what they're getting. I'm definitely in favor of voluntary trans fat reductions on the part of manufacturers. We've got to face it--there are a lot of people too ignorant or too, well, dumb to take the steps they ought to to protect their health. While I think people ought to be free to do whatever stupid thing they like, some of these people (who are often low income) are getting heart disease and requiring treatment through government assistance that goes on our dime. Any voluntary steps people take that aid in increasing public health and thus saving us all money get my approval.
Oh, to be sure! That's because fat is the vehicle whereby flavor is transmitted to our taste buds. When fat is removed -- in part or in all -- a artificial substitute must be developed and incorporated. This is why lo-fat/no-fat food often have a rather "off" flavor, esp. on the bottom-note (the lingering, end taste). That is why there is just no comparison between the taste of hot biscuits with real butter, and hot biscuits with some kind of "heart healthy spread" [HHS].
Besides, birds will eagerly nibble away at butter, suet, and lard. They will not touch margarine or any HHS.