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(NaturalNews) The average American individual regularly eats some food high in Trans Fat. This may put average Americans at risk for diseases such as high cholesterol, type II diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, Infertility, Liver dysfunction, prostate cancer, and breast cancer (3). The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than about 2 grams per day, yet the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that the amount of Trans Fat consumed by the average American is 5.8 grams per day. Some other countries, such as Denmark limit the amount of dietary Trans Fat to about 1 gram per day. Thus, Americans may be far more likely to have the above mentioned diseases than the citizens of Denmark.

Trans Fat and Heart Disease

Scientists have shown that Trans Fat in people's diet will increase the level of LDL (Bad cholesterol) and decrease the level of HDL (good cholesterol). LDL transports cholesterol throughout the body. Excess cholesterol may stick to the artery lining and restrict blood flow or break off and cause a blood clot. Restricting blood flow to the heart or brain can cause heart attacks or strokes (2). HDL is known as good cholesterol because it picks up excess cholesterol and transports it to the liver. Trans Fats in the blood lower the HDL, minimizing the cholesterol cleansing ability. In one study it was estimated that between 30,000 and 100,000 cardiac deaths per year in the U.S. are attributable to Trans Fat (2).

What is Trans Fat?

Artificial Trans Fat is created when vegetable oil is partially hydrogenated to give it a higher melting point. Natural Trans Fat is exists in trace amounts in meat and dairy products from ruminants (cud chewing animals).

What foods contain the most Trans Fat?

Typical foods High in Trans Fat include: Fast food burgers and fries, baked goods, shortenings, margarines, microwave popcorn, and MacDonald's thick shakes. For a complete list of foods having 1 or more grams of Trans fat per serving go to this link: Foods High in Trans Fat (http://jmyarlott.com/articles/Trans...). This list gives the amount of Trans Fat in various foods sorted from highest to lowest by Grams Trans Fat per serving. The list was derived from the USDA Nutrition database SR-21 (4).

What is my daily Trans Fat limit?

For people interested in knowing their personal daily Trans Fat limit (1% of daily calories) there is a calculator here (http://foodandmortality.com/overwei...) that will calculate the grams of Trans fat based on their: age, weight, height, gender, and physical activity level.

References:

(1)Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Additional Macronutrient Recommendations
(2)http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tr...
(3)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat
(4)http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodco...

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