What is trans fat?

Trans fat has been in the news for quite awhile, especially about how unhealthy it is for a person's health. So here is an important question.

What is trans fat? According to Medicinenet.com trans fat is:

"An unhealthy substance, also known as trans fatty acid, made through the chemical process of hydrogenation of oils. Hydrogenation solidifies liquid oils and increases the shelf life and the flavor stability of oils and foods that contain them. Trans fat is found in vegetable shortenings and in some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods and other foods."

In other words, trans fast is often created by those processing and making the food that is consumed. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (http://www.fda.gov), trans fat is made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, which is called hydrogenation. This is supposed to extend shelf life of the food and keep the flavor as well.

Trans fat is not often found naturally and if it is, it is usually in some products that are animal based.

The American Diabetes Association has a list of food high in trans fat including stick margarine, shortening and certain processed food, including a lot of snack food.

Webmd.com also had a list of the top ten foods that have the most trans fat. Most would think fast food would be first, but it was fourth, following margarine, packaged food like cake mixes and soups.