Many of us are trying to eat more healthy.  We understand the importance of watching our fat intake, particularly trans fat.

A recent Harvard study found that just 4g of trans fat a day could double your risk of  having a heart attack.  So it’s very important to read the labels on the products you buy.  But how reliable is the information on the labels?  Is trans fat labeling accurate?  Not very.

The FDA has mandated that a product can actually have up to 0.5g of trans fat and still be labeled zero grams trans fat!  That means that the ‘fat free” product you are buying and eating can actually contain up to 0.5g of fat.

Take that zero trans fat product and multiply that by the number of times a day you eat it.  If you stick to the serving size and have say a margarine spread that is labeled zero fat at every meal you could be ingesting 1.5g of trans fat.

The American Heart Association recommends just 2g a day to maintain a healthy heart.  So your ‘zero grams of fat” product is almost equal to your daily limit!

So it’s still important to read your labels, just take this information into account when you are planning your daily meals.  It’s virtually impossible to remove all trans fat from your diet, but you do need to limit the amount you consume.