Translating those Trans Fats

Understanding and Avoiding these Unhealthy Fats

-- By Becky Hand, Licensed & Registered Dietitian and Liza Barnes, Health Educator

What do bread, crackers, cereal, macaroni & cheese, frozen pizza, donuts, and cookies have in common? Besides being at the top of the list of many people’s favorite foods, they are all possible sources of trans fats. Trans fats are oils that have been chemically-altered (through a process called hydrogenation) from their original liquid states, into solid shortening. The process increases the shelf life of the oil and improves the texture of the food to which the oil is added.

However, when you add those foods to your grocery cart, you’re increasing your risk of heart disease because trans fats are artery-clogging professionals.  In fact, the Nurse's Health Study of 80,000 women found that a 2% increase in trans fat consumption increased a woman’s risk of heart disease by 93%.

Take a stroll down the cookie or snack aisle of your local grocery store and you’ll see ”No Trans Fat” or "Now with Zero Trans Fats" splattered all over food packages.

If you find yourself wondering what the heck trans fat is, how it got into your food in the first place, or why it's gone now, then read on to find the answers to these questions and more.

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• TLAUER1 "I always try to avoid trans fats at home but never thought about asking for..."
• ENGINEERMOM "Relating to my previous comment:
  
  The cookies in the example could be lab..."
• ENGINEERMOM "Saturated fat - a fat molecule "saturated" with hydrogen atoms
  
  Monounsat..."

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