Trans-fatty Acids

This type of fat is not naturally occurring, but is actually created when innocent unsaturated fats undergo a manufacturing process called hydrogenation. This is when a liquid of semi-soft fat is transformed into a more solid state. Trans-fatty acids act as saturated fats inside the body and raise blood cholesterol, this makes them very harmful. So you ask “why mess with a good fat?” Well, because the process can help preserve food or even enable a food company to change the texture of a product. A beautiful example is margarine. Margarine in the liquid form is unsaturated, but with some hydrogenation, it becomes semi-soft (tub margarine). Then with a little more hydrogenation it becomes even harder…known as stick margarine. Because most people would rather have the tub or stick margarine, they don’t know it, but they are filling themselves up with trans-fatty acids. What is even worse about this is trans-fatty acids do not appear on a nutrition label. So most people won’t even know whether or not what they are eating has trans-fat in it!