We've all heard that trans fats are bad, but don't know why, and don't know if we are avoiding them.

In a nutshell, trans fats are a form of a mutated fatty acid. Every cell in your body has a cell membrane. This membrane is not just a shield, but plays an active role in the function of the cell. It lets things in for say nutritional needs, and let's things out, for say toxins or byproducts of metabolism. When the cell membrane is messed up with trans fats, it can't do those jobs as well as it should. Think of your house. It has windows and doors to let in air and let it out. If the contractor messed up the installation, some would open, some wouldn't. As time goes on, more and more fail. One day, you burn something on the stove, and it smokes up the place, but you can only get one window open. The smoke will linger a lot longer than otherwise.

More you didn't know.

You can find trans fats in cakes, cookies, french fries, pastries, doughnuts, pizza, salad dressing, chips, vegetable shortening, pretzels, and numerous other processed foods. However, our good old reliable government is looking out for your best interest, and lets companies put a "No Trans Fats" label on products if they don't have trans fats, so you will buy those instead. Right. Wrong. You'll buy them all right, but the FDA allows food manufacturers to put on that label even though the food may contain up to 500mg of trans fats per 1/2 cup serving. 

Hmmm. Who's looking out for you?