Trans Fats 101

These come mostly from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in restaurant fryers, margarines, packaged snacks, and baked goods. These fats raise the risk of heart disease by upping the bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides and lowering the good HDL cholesterol. Although they occur in slams amounts in meat, they primarily come from packaged baked products (cookies, cakes, breads, crackers) and fast food. Eat as few trans fats as possible. They are listed on labels, but be careful of packaging. A food can claim that it contains zero trans fats even if it has 0.5 gram or less. If you eat more than a single portion, you may be getting more trans fats than you bargained for.