Abundant in many popular food choices including crackers, cookies and snack foods, trans fatty acids – also knows as trans fats have been dubbed by some researchers as the equivalent to saturated fats. Both raise low-density lipoproteins (LDL), known as the “bad” cholesterol, and some research suggests trans fats lower high-density lipoproteins )HDL), or the “good” cholesterol, which together add up to an increased risk of heart disease.

Trans fats are actually derived from vegetables oils, which mainly contain healthy, unsaturated fats that lower LDL. Some vegetable’s oils can be converted into trans fats through a process known as partial hydrogenation, which solidifies liquid oils and increases the shelf life and flavor stability of some products. A small amount of trans fat is also found naturally in some animal-based foods.

Although a new labeling, set forth by the Food and Drug Administration this summer, will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2006, some food companies have stepped up to the plate by modifying their labels to include the amount, in grams, of trans fats. And some have even gone a step further by making their products trans-fat free, which means that the product has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving.

The FDA estimates that by 2009, trans fat labeling will have prevented between 600-1,200 cases of cardiovascular disease and up to 500 deaths each year.

But with so much attention focused on trans fats, Dr. Jo Ann Carson, associate professor of clinical nutrition at UT southwestern, cautions consumers not to forget about saturated fats, which are abundant in many foods that most American just can’t seem to get enough of, including ice cream, butter, cheese, whole milk and other animal fats. Saturated fat contributed 12 percent of the calories in the American diet, while the daily intake of trans fats is about 3 percent of calories.

“Trans fats and saturated fats are both bad fats,” Dr. Carson said. “This new labeling will give consumers the opportunity to take the total grams of trans fats and saturated fats and those together, which will allow  them to select a heart healthier products,” she said.

The tree main fats are saturated, polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats. Poly and monosaturated fats, tow of the heart healthy fats, are not required on labels.

Before the new guidelines were issued, the total fat was only broken down into saturated fats, leaving consumers guessing about the amount of trans fats included in products.

“A box pf crackers might contain a total of 5 grams of fat per serving” Dr. Carson said. “Once gram might have been listed as being saturated fat, and maybe 1 ½ grams was monosaturated fats, but when you add those two up you only get 2 ½ grams of fat, so you would still have another 2 ½ grams not accounted for. The remaining grams would have probably been trans-fatty acids.”

Many consumers have grown accustomed to analyzing food labels, but the listing of total calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium and other nutritional information was not actually required until 1994. Before then, many people were left in the dark when  it came to the nutritional information for food products.

The nutrition labeling and Education (NLEA), passed in 1990, required nutrition labeling for most foods (except meat and poultry) and authorized the use of nutrition  content claims and appropriate DA-approved health claims. This law did not go into effect until May 1994. Regulations for nutritional labeling for meat and poultry became effective in July 1994.

“Nutrition labels have allowed consumers to make more informed choices,” Dr. Carson said. “We take labels for granted now, but there was a time when we knew no more about the foods in the supermarket than we do about foods in restaurants. Since nutrition labels have been required, consumers can choose among several products to select one lowest in calories, fat or sodium.”

The push for the inclusion of trans-fatty acids on food labels may have been brought on by the Center for Science in the public Interest (CSPI), a consumer advocacy organization, but it was Dr. Scott Grundy, director of the Center for Human Nutrition, who, more than a decade ago, urged the FDA to revise package labels to more accurately reflect  new research into dietary fats.

In 1991, Dr. Grundy wrote an editorial accompanying a Dutch report in The New England Journal of Medicine that showed a portion of the fat, trans-unsaturated fatty acids, in hardened vegetable  oils not only raised total blood cholesterol, but also lowered HDL. That same year, Dr. Grundy called upon food manufacturers to alter the way they make margarines and shortening in by cutting down on trans fats and increasing other safer components. When the 1993 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act regulation were finalized, however, the FDA did not require trans fat to be listed on the Nutrition Facts panel because at that time, the scientific evidence was not conclusive about the relationship between trans-fat intake and increased blood cholesterol levels.

While guidelines for the recommended intake of  trans fats have not been established, the latest guidelines issued by the National Cholesterol Education Program suggest total calories from trans fat to be kept to a minimum. Chaired by Dr. Grundy, the expert panel suggests that 25 percent to 35 percent of total calories from fat, which includes a higher intake from polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

To limit the intake of foods high in trans fats, like cookies and muffins, Dr. Carson suggest making these products at home.

“store-bought muffins and other commercially baked foods probably have more trans fats,” Dr. Carson said. “The way to be heart-healthy is to look for products that have used liquid oils instead of partially hydrogenated oils in the preparation or make them yourself using corn or canola oil.”

Although trans fats will be included on food label, consumers should also pay  attention to the ingredient selection of products, which may list partially hydrogenated soybean and cocount oils, which contain traces of trans fat.