Why is Trans Fat bad for Health?

Avoiding saturated fat and cholesterol is already mainstream practice for health-minded shoppers. But there’s a new villain in town: trans fats. Ubiquitous in processed foods, trans fats increase heart-disease risk and may contribute to diabetes, stroke, and cancer.

“People are just starting to get that trans fats are bad, but they don’t know why,” says Kim Severson, food reporter and author of The Trans Fat Solution (Ten Speed Press, 2003). Food labels increasingly cluttered by health claims often confound the problem. Here, we break down what trans fats are and offer tips on how to avoid them in your diet.