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Good and Bad Eats: Part II of II

By Linda Vaughon

In the last issue, it was established that saturated fats should be limited while trans fats should be completely eliminated. These two fats should then be replaced with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

One means by which a person can increase his or her intake of good fats is by eating fish. A recent study concluded that fish is an important source of the polyunsaturated fat, omega- 3 fatty acid because it lowers heart disease risk.

The omega-3 study groups received a one-gram capsule daily. To get onegram from eating fish, one must eat one serving a day of fatty fish, such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, or swordfish.

The American Heart Association currently recommends eating at least two servings of fish a week.

However, elimination of trans fats is a difficult task because they are not always on food labels. Harvard School recommends checking the ingredients for hydrogenated oils. The higher up these are listed, the more trans fats the food contains.

The precautionary measures available are to: select liquid vegetable oils or soft tub margarine with few or no trans fats, purchase less factory prepared baked goods, snack food, and processed foods and avoid fast foods.

If foods containing hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils are difficult to sidestep, it's best to be sure that hydrogenated oils are listed at the bottom of ingredient lists.

Many restaurants fry with partially hydrogenated oil and serve baked goods containing it according to Ban Trans Fats, an organization dedicating to banning partially hydrogenated oils.

Ban Trans Fats warned that many products state that they have no trans fats, but list hydrogenated fats in their ingredients. The FDA regulation allows that servings containing less that 0.5 gram can be stated as having zero trans fats.

However, when four servings of this product are eaten, which is common, 1.6 grams of trans fats is eaten despite the package claim of no trans fat.

Effective on January 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration will require that all nutritional labels list trans fats.

In 2003, Tommy Thompson, the Bush administration health and human services secretary, gave the statement, "Trans fats are bad fats. The less trans fats you and I eat, the healthier we will be."

Crackdowns on trans fat are popping up everywhere. Denmark prohibits oils containing more than 2 percent trans fat. Violation of that law brings a fine and up to two years in prison.

Last year, the Canadian Parliament debated a newly introduced bill that would ban trans fats. The same day, the Canadian government formed a task force to reduce trans fats.

Tiburan, a town near San Francisco, is America's first trans fat-free city. All Tiburon's restaurants display window signs stating "We use trans fat-free cooking oil."