It seems like every so often the public gets hold of a few buzz words related to food and then markets the heck out of them causing many people to follow blindly. Trans Fats seem to be the popular thing to stay away from in our diets these days. Many manufacturers of food that is still bad for you have grasped onto this fad and have attempted to make the unhealthy healthy again by claiming it to be trans fat free. Today’s blog is meant to educate you on what a trans fat is and why it is bad and where to go to avoid them.
Simply stated, a trans fat, also known as trans fatty acid, is a specific type of fat formed when liquid oils are made into solid fats (i.e. shortening). Small amounts of trans fat are also found naturally in some animal-based foods. A long time ago (when I was a kid) these were known as partially hydrogenated oils. Trans fats are created by a chemical process designed to increase the shelf life and flavor stability of foods.
Trans Fats are bad because the raise the low density lipoprotein (LDL or bad cholestorol) and reduce the high density lipoprotein (HDL or good cholestorol) This lethal combination increases the risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. It also increases the risks of developing type 2 diabetes. Kind of a compelling reason to heed the warnings and limit trans fats in our diets.
So if you limit foods that typically contain shortenings such as cookies, crackers, candies, some margarines and as much fried food as you can you can drastically reduce your trans fat intake. Many fryer oil companies are jumping on the bandwagon and creating “Trans Fat Free” deep frying oil so not all french fries are trans fat bad. In keeping with this health trend, all of our fryer oil is Trans Fat Free and always has been.