If you're both crazy for those dense poundcakes at Starbucks and a bit of a health nut, today is a good day -- the behemoth coffee retailer has announced that starting today, its stand-alone shops in the District will ditch food made with trans fats.

Of course, with smoking now marginalized to outdoor areas, health gurus and nanny-staters alike have set their sights on trans fats, known more commonly as partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. New York recently banned the fat from all foods, concerned with its tendency to elevate levels of bad cholesterol and its utter lack of nutritional value. The District has yet to consider the issue, but given the elevated rates of heart disease among the city's African American populace -- a condition which trans fats are thought to aggrevate -- and the District Department of Health's aggressive plans for reducing those rates, the idea might sometime be floated. Of course, health advocates will likely keep an eye on New York. If a transition away from trans fats can occur relatively painlessly there, chances are better that the idea will spread.

For now, though, at least Starbucks-goers can rest easy. But remember -- that Chocolate Marble Poundcake still has 470 calories and 25 grams of fat.