Trans Fat Fact

Have you ever noticed that the majority of commercially available foods list 0g of trans fat on their nutrition labels? One little known fact is that the FDA (the Food & Drug Administration) allows companies to list 0g of trans fat on a food's nutrition label if it contains .5g or fewer. That's atrocious. You might be asking yourself, is .2563g of trans fat really going to have any negative impact on my health? Yep. If you're eating large quantities of processed foods the fractional content will quickly add up. Even accumulating a total of 1g trans fat over the course of a day will reek havoc on your heart health, circulatory health, and cholesterol levels. It takes just 10 seconds to trans fat-proof your diet. Here's what you can do to become a certified trans fat detective:

1. Check fats section of the nutrition label. If it has any level of trans fat listed, avoid it.
2. Scan the list of ingredients. Look for hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils. The most common culprit will be partially hydrogenated soybean oil.