Avoiding Unhealthy Trans Fats

When you’re shopping, don’t forget to take time to check labels for trans fats. Often found in fried foods, salad dressings, chips, and baked goods, trans fats have been scientifically proven to increase your risk of coronary heart disease.

What are Trans Fats?

Trans fats occur when a product manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil. The purpose of hydrogenation is to increase the flavour stability and shelf life of these processed foods. Although fats such as the ones found in rapeseed, olive, or soya oil have good effects on your overall health, saturated fats and trans fats are not an essential part of a healthy diet. Natural trans fats are primarily found in foods containing margarine or vegetable shortening in small amounts can be found in meat and certain dairy products however, these naturally occurring trans fats do not have the same negative health effects are manufactured ones.

The Dangers of Trans Fats

Like saturated or animal fats, trans fats contribute to clogged arteries. Clogged arteries are a sign of heart disease; they increase your risk of both heart attack and stroke. The dangers of trans fats lie in the effect they have on LDL (Bad) cholesterol levels. They increase LDL cholesterol levels while reducing the amount of beneficial HDL (Good) cholesterol in your body. This causes the clogging of the arteries and the subsequent heart and circulatory problems that follow. Also population studies indicate that trans fats may raise the risk of diabetes. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston suggest that replacing trans fats in the diet with polyunsaturated fats (such as vegetable oils, salmon, etc.) can reduce diabetes risk by as much as 40%.

Foods high in Trans Fats

Foods where manufactured trans fats are generally found are

Baked goods (breads, cakes, biscuits, crackers, pies)

Margarines

Fried potatoes

Crisps

Vegetable shortening

Salad dressing

Breakfast cereals

To Avoid Trans Fats

Use olive oil for all cooking.

Use trans fat-free margarine instead of hard stick margarine.

When eating out, avoid deep fried foods

Look out for foods made with ‘partially hydrogenated’ oils

Be aware that the higher those words ‘trans fats’ appear in the ingredient list, the more in it

Cut down on biscuits. Half the fat of a biscuits may be from trans fats.

Avoid doughnuts as they can contain four to nine grams of trans fat each.