Trans Fat

Avoid Trans Fats

Trans fatty acids are supplied by partially hydrogenated vegetable oils used in most processed foods in our supermarkets, and in many fast foods. Trans fats are plant-based unsaturated vegetable fats that have been saturated with hydrogen. Food manufacturers turn these naturally ‘fluid’ oils into ‘hardened criminals’ because doing so increases a product’s shelf life while making the foods crisp, creamy, moist, and flavorful.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) advises that we keep trans fat intake as low as possible. Not only do trans fats have no known health benefits, they are worse for our health than artery-clogging saturated fatty acids. They increase total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol (perhaps even more than other saturated fats), reduce HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and may also increase triglyceride levels which lead to an increased risk of diabetes and inflammation. It’s all bad.

Unless you eliminate meat and dairy products from your diet (which supply about 20% of the trans fats in our food supply), eliminating trans fats completely isn’t practical. Most trans fats, however, are found in processed foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils. Baked good (donuts, cakes, cookies, muffins, pies), snack foods (chips, popcorn, and crackers), margarines (especially stick types), frozen meals, and some peanut butters.

Cut back on trans fats by knowing where they hide.

• Check ingredients on food labels for partially hydrogenated oils. Hydrogenation turns unsaturated vegetable fats into trans fats. Some foods with trans fats: margarine, cookies, frosting, snack cakes, pastry, pie crust. More and more foods list trans fats on Nutrition Facts.

• Look for food products labeled “trans fat free.”

• Eat more of foods with few, if any, trans fats: fruit, vegetables, whole-grain foods, fish, lean meat and poultry, nuts, and olive, canola, and safflower oils.