Trans Fat

What are Trans fat?

Trans fat is the common name for a type of unsaturated fat. Unsaturated fat is fat molecules contain one or more double bonds between the carbon atoms. Hydrogenation which is a process indeed to add hydrogen atoms to unsaturated fats remove a double bond and making them more saturated. Trans fats are created in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid.

Why some companies wanted to use Trans fat?

Companies like to use Trans fat in their foods because they are easy to use, inexpensive to produce and last a long time. Trans fat result a foods desirable taste and texture. Many restaurants and fast-food use Trans fats to deep fry foods because oils with Trans fat can be used many times in commercial fryers.

How do trans fat affect our health?

Trans fat increase bad cholesterol level(LDL) and decrease good cholesterol levels(HDL). Eating Trans fats increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. It also associated high risk of developing diabetes. Before 1990, very little was known about how Trans fat can harm human health. In the 1990s, research began identifying the bad health effects of Trans fats.

What foods contain trans fat?

Trans fats can be found in many foods especially in fried foods like French fries and doughnuts and baked goods including pastries, pie crusts, biscuits, pizza dough, cookies, crackers and stick margerine. Amount of Trans fat in some packaged food can be determined by looking at the Nutrition Facts label behind the package.

How much Trans fat you can eat per day?

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of Trans fat less than 1 percent of in the total daily calories. That means it need 2,000 calories a day, not more than 20 of those calories should come from Trans fat.

Are there any natural Trans fat?

Small amounts of Trans fat occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, including beef, lamb and butterfat. Naturally occurring Trans fats have the same bad effects on cholesterol levels as Trans fats that have been industrially manufactured.