Surely you've heard the bad news about trans fats.
New York City has banned their use in restaurants. Many state governments have taken action to limit their consumption and use in mass-produced foods. And health experts around the world agree that their presence in foods should be reduced to trace amounts, if not eliminated. Why does this kind of fat inspire dire health warnings and legal action? Because trans fats raise the risk of coronary heart disease, and play no positive nutritional role. Most trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to certain unsaturated fats. The hydrogen makes these fats slower to spoil on a store shelf or in a restaurant pantry than other fats, which is why trans fats had been used in many packaged foods and restaurant cooking. These partially hydrogenated fats raise the level of LDL cholesterol, which is bad for your arteries, and lower the level of HDL cholesterol, which is beneficial to your arteries. Numerous studies have found that people who consume a lot of trans fats have a higher risk of developing plaques in their arteries, which leads to coronary heart disease. And that's why trans fats are the outlaws of the nutritional world!
