It’s not grocery terrorism or product tampering. It’s trans fat, and the FDA estimates that 2,500 to 5,600 deaths per year could be prevented if consumers were more informed about it.

But trans fat is also a critical tool for commercial food producers, from grocery chains to restaurants. It’s cheap and easy to make, easy to use, easy to store, and it extends foods’ shelf life significantly, so food manufacturers lobbied long and hard to prevent any regulation of it, including putting it on Nutrition Facts labels.

The trouble is, of all the fats, consumers most need to know the facts about trans fats, because quite simply, they are the most damaging and dangerous to health. The Institute of Medicine in 2001 issued an unequivocal statement that trans fats “should not be eaten at all.”

Bad News, Good News

Advice like that from the government’s key health advisor is hard to ignore, and finally, in July of 2003, the federal government took action, passing new rules requiring food producers to start including trans fats on Nutrition Facts labels by 2006, listing them separately from other fat content so consumers can see how much trouble they’re bargaining for.

If you’re like most Americans, you’ve been cutting back on dietary fat over the last 20 years or so, so you may wonder what the big deal is with trans fats.

The long-time rascal of dietary fat has been saturated fat, which is mainly found in animal products like meat, butter and cheeses, and vegetable oils like coconut and palm oils. They’re considered the “bad fats” because they can raise your LDL cholesterol level, which increases your risk for coronary artery disease.

But they’ve got nothing on trans fats. Also referred to as “trans fatty acids,” trans fats occur naturally only in tiny amounts. Most of us are getting trans fats made artificially, through the commercial process of hydrogenation, and we’re consuming them in mass quantities.

Adding hydrogen to unsaturated vegetable oils will make them solid at room temperature. Think of that gleaming white goop that comes in a can. This is also how margarine is made from liquid vegetable oils.

Though unsaturated fats are generally less harmful—though not less fattening—than saturated fats, the process of hydrogenation alters them at the molecular level and turns them into trans fats, making them assume many of the characteristics of saturated fats.

Like saturated fats, these trans fats in commercial food products will offer the benefit of a longer shelf life. But they also come with the downside, because like saturated fats, trans fats raise the “bad” LDL cholesterol that accumulates in arteries.

The FDA estimated that informing consumers about trans fat content on food labels could prevent 7,600 to 17,000 cases of coronary heart disease each year, to say nothing of all those deaths.

The new Nutrition Facts labels will not have to indicate any daily value percentage for trans fats, but a footnote will be included saying that the intake of trans fats should be “as low as possible.”

So until those rules come into effect, there are some ways to tell if the products you are consuming contain the nepharious trans fats.

Know Thy Enemy

Like tobacco, a little bit of trans fat once or twice probably wouldn’t harm you. It’s the cumulative effect over time that does the damage. And want to talk accumulation? Trans fats appear in more than 40 percent of standard grocery items!

Just knowing the usual suspects is a good start in protecting yourself. Many processed foods contain trans fats. Foods like french fries, fried chicken, fish sticks or virtually any batter-dipped and fried foods will contain trans fats because they are fried in hydrogenated fat.

Trans fats are also found in almost all margarines. They’re also in most pastries and doughnuts. Chips, cookies and microwave popcorn are about the biggest carriers of trans fats.

In fact, most commercial snack foods are guaranteed to be trans fat carriers. It just makes sense, doesn’t it? Food producers are looking to get that longer shelf life and satsify customers’ flavor expectations by keeping their products fresher longer.

But next time you’re savoring a Danish, just keep that glob of lardy white goop in mind. Because while trans fats can mean munching pleasure for your mouth, they’ll cause nothing but problems for your heart.

Through Thick & Thin:

As dangerous as they are, trans fats are not listed on food labels as such. So to tell if a product has trans fat in it, look for the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated” on the ingredient list. The higher in the ingredient list that hydrogenated oils are listed, the more trans fats there are in the product.

This is one case where creating a food product did not have the desired results. Trans fat does not occur naturally and was developed to help processed foods last longer while making them palatable. Unfortunately its effects on human physiology were never fully researched until 50 years after its development because it was assumed that vegetable oils derived from plant sources were safe. As science has learned more about the effects of different fats on the body this is no longer true. While some types of fat are safe others such as saturated fats and trans fats both are capable of raising cholesterol levels to unsafe levels.

Trans fats are bad for the simple reason that they raise the level of LDL cholesterol in the blood stream. LDL, or low density lipoproteins, are the bad half of the cholesterol equation. A high level of LDL cholesterol in the blood stream leads to excessive plaque build-up which blocks and clogs the arteries. This increase the risk for coronary artery disease which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke, particularly if any of these plaque formations breaks free of the artery wall in the form of a blood clot.

The other half of the cholesterol equation is high density lipoproteins, or HDL cholesterol, which is the good cholesterol. It is considered beneficial because it function is to pick up the excess bad LDL cholesterol in the blood stream and return it to the liver where it is disposed of and excreted out of the body. Trans fat lowers HDL levels while increasing LDL levels which is the exact opposite of what we need to have happen in the prevention of heart disease.

There are alternatives to trans fat and saturated fat. Food and food products such as olive oil, peanut oil, and canola oil contain monounsaturated fats, which when eaten in moderation can lower blood cholesterol levels. Another good choice are foods that are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids such as fish and nuts. Omega-3’s have been shown to help protect against the risk of heart disease and its complications.

Although many food manufacturers and restaurants are moving away from trans fats it still is important to read the nutrition labels on the food products you buy. Avoid restaurants that continue to use trans fat in their cooking processes and stop using cooking oils that are high in trans fat and saturated fat for home cooking. Doing these simple things can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease for you and your family.

Relax, don’t panic. Just by taking a couple of preventive steps, you can have your cake and eat it, and by that I mean that you can eat your cakes, pies, cookies, and still protect your arteries. If you are wondering how that’s possible, here is how: watch out for trans fats and stay away from them as much as possible.

What are trans fats?

Trans fats are the worst of all fats. Hydrogenated oils or trans fats, as they are usually called, are produced artificially by inserting molecules of hydrogen in vegetable oils, a process called hydrogenation. Through this process, the oil, which is liquid at room temperature, changes it original form and becomes solid. In addition, the new fat ends up with an unnatural chemical structure.

Why do you need to stay away from trans fats?

Trans fats can hurt because:

• Through the manufacturing process, the liquid oil becomes solid or saturated; saturated fat can get stuck in your arteries. In addition, eating too much saturated fat may cause your liver to produce more cholesterol than your body needs.

• Because of the hydrogenation process, the original oil ends up with a different chemical structure. The unnatural shapes of trans fats cause our cells to become malformed and to malfunction. And that includes the cells of the heart and arteries.

• They raise LDL cholesterol, the “bad” guy. This is the type of cholesterol responsible for clogging the arteries.

• They lower HDL cholesterol, the “good” guy. This is the one you need in abundance to clean your arteries.

• They damage the lining of the arteries, setting the stage for the formation of plaque. Plaque also clogs your arteries.

So, what products should you stay away from during the holidays to avoid trans fats?

You probably have guessed by now. During the holiday season (and this goes also for the rest of the year) you need to pay particular attention to commercial baked goods containing high amounts of fat such as cakes, pies, cookies, croissants, donuts, ice cream, and the like.

Does this mean you have to go through the holidays without having a cookie or a piece of cake?

No. What you need to do is minimize the potential harm trans fats can cause. How? By doing the following:

• When buying commercial baked goods always read the label. If the label indicates the product has any amount of trans fats don’t buy it. The report issued by the Institute of Medicine in 2002 doesn’t set maximum levels for trans fats but food authorities believe any amount above zero is a risk.

• Check also the ingredients on the label and look for hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oil. Food manufacturers do not have to list the amount of trans fats if the total fat in the food is less than 0.5 grams per serving. As a safety measure, don’t buy products that list this type of oil as part of the ingredients.

• Dust off your favorite recipes for cookies, pies, and cakes and do some baking at home. Choose a recipe that uses butter instead or margarine. In the past we assumed that margarine was better for the heart because it’s produced from vegetable oils and has no cholesterol; however, solid margarine is made from hydrogenated oils and contains large amounts of trans fats.

• Email your favorite cookie recipe to those friends and family members who like to show up at your door on Christmas day with commercial baked cookies as a present. They might take the hint.

Conclusion

Health authorities are concerned that the consumption of trans fats might have contributed to the 20th century epidemic of coronary heart disease because they are compounds that have unnatural shapes. But if you follow these few guidelines, you will have taken a big step towards the protection of your heart and arteries. And what is even better, you won’t have to deal with a guilty conscience on January the 2nd.

Remember, however, to practice moderation when it comes to amounts and portions; after all, baked goods can be high in calories since they contain large amounts of fat and sugar.

The reason they are so bad is because trans fats have been proven to significantly raise levels of harmful LDL cholesterol, clogging arteries with fatty plaques.  They are much more dangerous than saturated fats which are found in products such as butter and cream cheese.  Nutritional labels often have a low number like 2, 3 or 4 next to the trans fat content section so we often think that’s a good thing.  How would we know how unhealthy that is!  Recent surveys have shown that there has been essentially no education on this subject.

American Heart Association advises that anything over 2 grams per day is unhealthy and 0 grams is the preferred number.  Dining out or taking out makes watching these numbers rather difficult, after all who wants to ruin the experience by researching every the nutritional content of every meal.  As a result, some major cities like New York and Philadelphia have already or soon will put a ban on trans fats in restaurants.

To avoid consuming these harmful fats obviously it’s a good idea to check labels when grocery shopping.  Try to avoid processed foods like snacks or baked goods like cookies, prepackaged donuts, or muffins.  Just because a label says little or no trans fats does not mean it’s healthy, you must look at the overall ingredients.  Hopefully, moving forward there will be more straight forward talk and information on this subject.  We will just have to make due for now, but remember – knowledge is power!