Become more healthy in the foods you eat : trans fat

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F O R L I F E
Become More Healthy in the
Foods You Eat... Trans Fat
Why worry about trans fat?
Eating too much trans fat raises the level of
bad cholesterol ( LDL) in your blood and may
reduce your good cholesterol ( HDL) level.
This puts you at greater risk of heart attack or
stroke. To address this issue, the Food and
Drug Administration has required labeling of
trans fat contents in processed foods. Many
manufacturers are reducing the trans fat in
products. It is recommended that you keep
your intake of trans fats as low as possible.
Look for foods that contain 0g trans fat.
What are trans fats?
The fat in food is slightly altered as a result of
the process of hydrogenation of oils and fats.
These altered fats are called trans fats. The
amount of trans fats formed depends on the
amount of hydrogenation. Trans fat acts much
like saturated fat in the body.
EAT RIGHT
F O R L I F E
What foods contain trans fats?
Check the Nutrition Facts food label to see if
trans fat is listed with its amount present. There
is no Daily Value (% DV) assigned to trans fat.
So far, no Daily Value has been agreed upon.
Establishing a Daily Value would help con-sumers
put the product’s trans fat content in
perspective by indicating how much trans
fat is present compared with a recommended
daily amount.
If there is no amount of trans fat shown on the
Nutrition Facts food label, there still can be a
small amount present ( up to 0.49 grams/
serving). Check the ingredient list for terms
that indicate the presence of trans fat. They
include terms like hydrogenated oil, partially
hydrogenated oil, and vegetable oil shorten-ing.
While this will tell you that some trans fat
is present, the amount is negligible or not
enough to be important if the Nutrition Facts
on the food label shows no amount present.
Trans fat can be found thoughout
the food groups, especially where
foods have been processed by
hydrogenation.