A Word About: Transfats

The use of transfats has spiked in the last decade. You’ll find it in almost every convenience food, snack, and prepacked product you might feel like buying. But what the heck is it?

Transfat is a type of unsaturated fat that has been chemically altered to act like saturated fat. I think it’s done because it supposedly improves the flavour of the products they’re in, thus increasing the sales. The danger with transfats is that they raise your bad cholesterol levels and lower your good ones. (Bad Cholesterol = LDL, Good Cholesterol = HDL; so next time you get your cholesterol checked, ask your GP to talk to you about which one you’re higher in!). High LDL cholesterol levels raise the risk for heart diseases; it clogs up your blood vessels and can lead to strokes, heart attacks, and all sorts of other issues, check out this video for a good visual: http://www.heartattackfacts.org.au/heart-attack-facts/what-is-a-heart-attack/

If you want to know more, have a look at the Transfat and the Cholesterol entries on the Heart Foundation Australia website, they have excellent information available on what the trouble is and how to avoid them. In general, look for a Heart Foundation tick, but don’t forget to actually read the labels – stickers with ticks on them are great, but not all ticks are 100% reliable! Check your sources before you eat!