When it comes to heart health, it's especially important to watch nutrition labels for trans fat. You will find it listed under saturated fat and the USDA says we should eat as little as possible. Here's a quiz to find out if you are up-to-date on trans fats.
1. Trans fat is also known as trans fatty acid.
True or false?
2. Trans fat behaves like saturated fat in the body by raising bad cholesterol.
True or false?
3. Trans fat is made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil.
True or false?
4. The most common places you will find trans fats are in solid vegetable shortening, some margarines, crackers, cookies and snack foods.
True or false?
5. The FDA estimates that the average daily intake of trans fat in the United States is about 4 grams.
True or false?
6. Trans fat can occur naturally in some animal products such as butter, milk products, cheese, beef and lamb.
True or false?
7. The USDA recommends choosing vegetable oils (except coconut and palm kernel oils) and soft margarines (liquid, tub, or spray) when possible because the combined amount of saturated and trans fats is lower than the amount in solid shortenings, hard margarines and animal fats.
True or false?
8. The USDA allows a manufacturer to list 0 gram of trans fat per serving if the product has less than .5 grams of trans fat per serving.
True or false?
9. It is healthier to eat butter instead of margarine in order to avoid trans fat.
True or false?
Answers:1. True; 2. True; 3. True; 4. True; 5. False. Americans eat about 5.8 grams daily. 6. True; 7. True; 8. True; 9. False. The combined amount of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol for butter is usually higher than margarine even if the margarine contains more trans fat than butter.
