Trans fat facts for kids
Trans fat is a special kind of unsaturated fat. It's mostly made in factories when people create certain processed foods, like margarine. You can find tiny amounts of trans fat naturally in some meat and milk.
Trans fats are made when vegetable oils are heated or put through a process called "hydrogenation." Hydrogenation means bubbling hydrogen gas through oil. This makes the oil change from liquid to more solid. It also raises the oil's melting point. If the process is stopped partway, it creates "partially hydrogenated oil." This oil is similar to butter but much cheaper to make. It's often sold as "margarine" or "vegetable shortening." This process helps food companies add a butter-like texture to their products cheaply.
Trans fat is not good for your health. Eating too much of it has been linked to several problems. These include coronary heart disease (heart problems), cancer, diabetes, and obesity. It can also affect your liver and lead to infertility (trouble having babies). Healthy oils are usually liquid at body temperature. But saturated and trans fats are not.
So far, no studies have shown that trans fat is good for human health. Because scientists now know about these health risks, less trans fat is used in foods today. However, some commercial food products might still contain it.
For a while, the US government's "Food and Drug Administration" (FDA) allowed food makers to say their products had "0 grams of trans fat per serving." This was true even if the food had up to 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Since partially hydrogenated oils are the main source of trans fat, the best way to avoid it is to read the "ingredients" label. If you see "partially hydrogenated oil," it means the food has trans fat. Fried foods often contain trans fat because they are made using very hot oil.
US Ban on Artificial Trans Fats
In 2013, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States started to gradually stop the use of trans fats in all foods. They stated that there is no safe amount of trans fat for people to eat.
In June 2015, the FDA made a final decision. They announced that scientists do not agree that artificial trans fatty acids are safe for human food. This meant that trans fat had to be removed from almost all food production within three years, by June 2018.
The FDA estimated that this ban would cost the food industry about $6.2 billion over 20 years. Food companies had to create new recipes and use ingredients without trans fat. However, the benefits of the ban were estimated to be much higher, around $140 billion over 20 years. Most of these savings would come from lower health care costs for people. Food companies can ask the FDA for special permission to use partially hydrogenated oils, but they must prove that using these oils is safe.
Images for kids
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Idealized representation of a molecule of a typical triglyceride, the main type of fat. Note the three fatty acid chains attached to the central glycerol portion of the molecule.
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Schematic diagram of a triglyceride with a saturated fatty acid (top), a monounsaturated one (middle) and a polyunsaturated one (bottom).
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[Margarine]], a common product that can contain trans fatty acids
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[Wilhelm Normann]] patented the hydrogenation of liquid oils in 1902
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Conversion of cis to trans fatty acids in partial hydrogenation
See also
In Spanish: %C3%81cido graso trans para ni%C3%B1os
