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Trans Fat Facts Print E-mail

June 21, 2010
Sherri Meyer, MG Registered Dietitian

Most of us have heard about the ill effects of partially hydrogenated fat, aka trans fat. Trans fat — also called trans-fatty acids —raises your "bad" (LDL) cholesterol and lowers your "good" (HDL) cholesterol. A high LDL cholesterol level in combination with a low HDL cholesterol level increases your risk of heart disease, the leading killer of men and women. Trans fat may increase inflammation, which plays a key role in atherosclerosis (thickening of an artery wall).
Now that manufacturers are labeling the amount of trans fat in products it should be pretty simple to avoid, right?  Unfortunately, no - under current FDA rules, nutrition labels can list saturated and trans fats as zero, as long as the product contains less than 0.5g per serving. But the AMA claims (and I agree) that this is misleading consumers, as people could be consuming more than they realize. For example, if a product contains 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving and you eat 3 servings then you are actually getting up to 1.5 grams of trans fat, not 0 as claimed by the manufacturer.
Even more confusing is that the FDA also allows food manufacturers to promote foods on-pack as “trans fat free” or “zero trans fat” if they are under the 0.5g threshold per serving.  Packages and labels can be very misleading and this is a prime example.

So, how do you know whether food contains trans fat? Look at the “facts” (the food ingredient label) and see if the food actually contains "partially hydrogenated" vegetable oil, which is another term for trans fat. The word "shortening" also is a clue: shortening contains some trans fat.
Although small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, it's the trans fats in processed foods that seem to be more harmful.  So if you are limiting processed foods, you are likely eliminating this harmful fat from your diet.



 

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