Where can trans fats be found?

Most commonly found in dairy products and red meat, as well as margarine, cakes, biscuits and many deep fried foods (especially chips). So, yeah, a lot of the stuff many of us like to eat on a cheat day.

What do trans fats do?

A trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil in order to keep it ‘stable’ for frying and to prevent it from going rancid. Processed food makers have been slowly replacing saturated fats (such as lard) with hydrogenated vegetables in order to cut out cholesterol. But these hydrogenated fats act like saturated fats in the blood, raising your cholesterol and lowering the ‘good’ high-density cholesterol.

How much trans fat should you be eating?

Trans fatty acids aren’t explicitly listed on nutrition labels, so they’re tricky little buggers to spot. Unfortunately, nutritional labelling isn’t standardised so trans fats don’t have to be listed. I in order to maintain a healthy diet – keep them to a bare minimum.