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Media Credit: www.kare11.com Don't be fooled by labels reading "0g Trans Fat"

On January 9, 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed a regulation requiring all manufacturers to label the nutrition facts on its food with the amount of trans fatty acids (trans fat) it contained. The FDA gave manufacturers until January 1, 2006 to get the information onto the nutrition label.

The FDA regulations applies only to packaged foods, excluding restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores. Previously, foods such as chip bags and bread had no trans fat labeling. Making it mandatory to label foods was an effort to help change the obesity rate in America. Now consumers have the knowledge of how much trans fat they are consuming which will hopefully lead to a change to a healthier diet.

In addition, scientists have discovered that there is a positive correlation between trans fat and an increased risk of coronary heart disease. By January 2009, the FDA believes that customer recognition of trans fat combined with the labeling of trans fat will reduce the number of victims of coronary heart disease and related deaths.

So what exactly is trans fat? Trans fat are unsaturated fatty acids formed when vegetable oils are processed and made into a solid of more stable liquid.

It is also the most dangerous type of nutritional fat. It increases bad cholesterol (LDL) and lowers good cholesterol (HDL). When your LDL increases, it narrows your arteries, preventing adequate blood flow. When your HDL decreases, it isn't able to rid excess cholesterol from your body. A combination such as this increases your risk for heart disease, the number one cause of death for men and women.

In addition it may cause clots in the arteries and inflammation, all of which have detrimental effects such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and other chronic conditions.

While some trans fats are natural, most are artificial. Some foods with artificial trans fat are margarine, shortenings, fry oils, baked goods, mixes, and packaged food.

Food manufacturers use trans fat in their foods for many reasons including: increasing shelf life, making food taste better, helping food stay fresher for longer, and making it less greasy. Foods are also able to endure repetitive reheating and refrigeration. Unsurprisingly there are no known health benefits of trans fat.

Trans fat used to make up about one percent to seven percent of calories in food.

It may sound too good to be true now that companies are eliminating trans fat in foods, but don't be fooled. Just because a label states zero grams trans fat, this may not be true.

Manufacturers are allowed to label their foods as zero grams trans fat as long as there are under 0.5 grams of trans fat. To detect if trans fat is in your food, look at the ingredients listed towards the bottom of the package. If "partially hydrogenated oil" or "vegetable oil" are listed, then the product contains trans fat. This means that if you eat more than one serving, the amount of trans fat you are consuming is more than what you are lead to believe.

Foods that don't contain trans fat are generally higher in saturated fat, which is also a risk for your health. If you are searching on nutrition labels for trans fat, don't forget to look for the amount of saturated fat and calories included.

Changes are being made from manufacturers that we have all grown to love. Frito-Lay no longer uses trans fat oil when making Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, and other snacks. Tyson Foods has presented frozen fried foods excluding the trans fat. Nabisco has made changes by making Oreo cookies trans fat free. Whole Foods grocery stores never carried products containing trans fat.

New York City restaurants are required to cook without any trans fat. French fries from restaurants are known to have up to five grams of trans fat. This means that in Manhattan restaurants, you won't find any grams of trans fat in the fries.

Other restaurants, including Legal Seafood and Ruby Tuesday's, are no longer using trans fat or hydrogenated oils.

At this moment it is still unclear how much trans fat should be consumed. However, it is certain that less is best.

The best way to detect if your food contains trans fat it to read the nutrition label and ingredients. Try to limit the amount of trans fat you are consuming as it has a terrible effect on your body and can lead to

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