Watch those trans-fatty acids!(NUTRITION)

Heart disease kills women. In fact, each year more middle -age and older women die from cardiovascular disease than breast cancer. The good news is that your risk of heart disease can be greatly reduced through lifestyle modifications--specifically a healthy diet and daily exercise.

The newest villain in the heart disease battle is trans fat, which the commercial food industry uses to fry, bake and extend the shelf life of food products. Compared to saturated fat, trans fatty acids (TFAs) are associated with a 2.5 to 10 fold higher risk of heart disease. TFAs increase harmful triglyceride and LDL cholesterol levels, decrease the good HDL cholesterol, as well as change the elasticity of the lining of the heart, blood and lymph vessels. We need to know our enemy. And the best way to get to know where trans-fats are is by reading the new labels that came into effect in December 2005 in Canada and January 1, 2006 in the United States.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a push in the U.S. to rid foods of saturated tropical oils such as palm kernel and coconut because they were unhealthy. Many were replaced by industrial trans fats. TFAs are produced artificially by heating unsaturated liquid vegetable oils with hydrogen and catalysts to make them solid at room temperature. Commercially, vegetable oils are hydrogenated to create firmer shortenings and margarines used in baking and frying processes and to extend the shelf life of foods, which would otherwise go rancid over time. TFAs can be found in commercial cookies, cakes, crackers, pies, waffles, doughnuts, bread, potato chips, corn chips, microwave popcorn, candy bars, French fries, salad dressings and, until very recently, many margarines.

In 1996, Canadians ate more TFAs than the populations of 14 European countries--more than 8 grams per person per day. Since then, our intake has dropped to 4 to 5 grams on average. In the U.S., the FDA estimates the average daily intake of TFAs is 5.8 grams. There is no known safe level.

In Canada, the Trans Fat Task Force has been charged with providing the Minister of Health with concrete strategies to reduce ...