Hydrogenation.
That’s an entire 5 syllables telling you that someone added hydrogen to some vegetable oil to turn it into Crisco. Well, not just vegetable oil—any liquid fat, really. And it’s not just made into Crisco. Hydrogenation is used for nearly every single product containing trans fatty acids (trans fats). Manufacturers use this process to make a great many things scores of people consume on a daily basis:
Just to list a few.
Trans fats were created to decrease the amount of saturated fats in people’s diets, because someone got it in their head that saturated fats were bad. Then, manufacturers discovered that their new baby made products last longer. Today, trans fats can be found in about 40% of the products you see on typical grocery store shelves.
Sounds good, right? Yeah... not so much.
While saturated fats do a fairly decent job of it, trans fats contribute their own fair share to clogging your arteries, by raising the level of LDLs (the “lousy” cholesterol) in your blood, as well as lipoproteins and triglycerides. Clogged arteries contribute to other medical complications. Like death.
Trans fats also seem to increase risk for diabetes, as well as the chance of heart disease and heart attacks.
I’m not saying to remove trans fats from your diet. I know I didn’t. I happen to like cookies and ice cream. However, be aware of what you’re consuming. In general, you should try to limit the amount of both saturated and trans fats you’re ingesting. If your doctor tells you to lower your LDLs, you might want to lay off dipping Keebler cookies into ranch dressing.
Stick, mainly, to the “good” fats. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats raise the amount of HDLs (“healthy” cholesterol) in your bloodstream. HDLs remove LDLs from your blood. In high numbers they protect you from heart attacks, help unclog arteries, and make Chuck Norris cry his miraculous cancer-curing tears. Pretty neat, n’est-ce pas?
You can find these fats in products like canola, olive, and peanut oils. Also, nuts, avocado, and peanut butter are good, heart-healthy snacks.
If you really need some margarine-type product, Smart Beat makes a trans-fat-free one that’s actually pretty decent (as in, it melts like butter and not like plastic).
I’m not saying to go chug a bottle of olive oil, though. That’s gross. I’m just saying to try to pick good fats over bad ones. Saturated and trans fats should be listed on the nutrition label of your food (unless you’re hoarding stuff from before 2006). And, even then, you should limit all fat intake to about 30% of your diet.
Trans Fats: The Science and the Risks
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
