Your guide to fats

These days supermarkets and food outlets spoil us for choice with their enormous range of foods, but a hidden danger lurks among those tantalising products: trans fats. Made during the process where vegetable oils are converted into semi-solid fats, these fats are used by the food industry and in commercial cooking. When we choose certain processed and fast foods, we can end up ingesting large amounts of them. Trans fats carry a health warning for our hearts: research suggests 5g trans fat a day is associated with a 25% increase in the risk of coronary heart disease. So here is your guide to the world of trans.

What are trans fats?

Trans fats are unsaturated fatty acids whose molecular structure is slightly altered so that they resemble saturated fats. As a result they also spell trouble for our coronary arteries because their effects in our bodies are as bad as the saturates.

What do they do in our bodies?

Like saturates, nothing good. They:

Raise LDL (bad) and lower HDL (good) cholesterol levels
Increase blood lipid levels
Promote inflammation, a risk factor for atherosclerosis (clogging up of the arteries)
Affect how your liver uses fats
Increase abdominal fat deposition

These are all risk factors for heart disease. In fact, because so much is known about the bad effects of trans fats, some researchers feel it would be unethical to test the effects of trans fats in long term trials.

Where are they found?

Meat from cows, sheep and other ruminants, as well as dairy products have small quantities of naturally occurring trans fats, produced by the bacteria in the rumen. But these products are high in saturated fat anyway and are best eaten only occasionally for our heart’s sake. In Canada and the USA, trans fat content must appear on read more