Trans Fats

Trans Fats -What they are

Natural liquid vegetable oils are comprise mainly of unsaturated fatty acids. Around the turn of this century a process called partial hydrogenation was developed that adds hydrogen to these molecules which enables the fat to take solid form at room temperature. These fats are called trans unsaturated fatty acids, or trans fat.

Products containing these fats, such as margarine, have been marketed as a low-cholesterol alternative to butter. Food labels that contain the words "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" are likely to contain trans fat.

Trans fats cause significant and serious lowering of HDL (good) cholesterol and a significant and serious increase in LDL (bad) cholesterol; major clogging of arteries; type 2 diabetes; and other serious health problems.

The amount of trans fat has been reduced and very recently some brands are now available that are trans free. Deep-fried fast food is a major source of trans in many people's diets even when advertised as "cooked in vegetable oil.

Findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that replacing saturated and trans unsaturated fats with unhydrogenated monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats is more effective in preventing coronary heart disease in women than reducing overall fat intake.

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Trans Fats regulation information from U.S Food and Drug Administration

Trans Fat information from bantransfats.com