How to Read a Food Label: Fats

I hope everyone had a great day of rest yesterday :) It's such a great reminder for me to be writing these particular Blogs on how to read food labels because oftentimes I get so stuck in my routine and only buy certain products that when I look at new products I have to remember all these things! I hope you are enjoying this as much as I am :)

Fats--we always hear about fats: unsaturated, saturated, cholesterol,trans fatty acids, glycerol...what do all these mean? Well, let's start with what a fat is. Fats are made of a glycerol molecule that is attached to fatty acid chains. These chains are long chains of carbon bonded to hydrogen molecules. The difference between saturated and unsaturated fats is found in the way that the carbons and hydrogens bond together.

Remember those little molecule models that were used in Chemistry class in high school? Some models were triangles, some were flat, etc. Well, in a saturated fat, all the carbon molecules are bonded to four hydrogens in "single" bonds. These single bonds lay flat. Whereas, unsaturated fats are composed of some carbons along the chain only bonded to two hydrogens using double bonds. These double bonds cause kinks in the chain.

So, if we think about what saturated fats look like, we realize they are all the fats that (at room temperature) lay flat on top of each other (i.e. butter, animal fats, etc.). Unsaturated fats are not solid at room temperature (due to the kinks in the chain) and are oils and other plant fats.

Okay, what about those trans fatty acids we are always hearing about? Well, a trans fatty acid is made through hydrogenation. Hydrogenation is just a fancy word for adding hydrogen. Since unsaturated fats have room for more hydrogen (remember, some of the carbons are only bonded to two hydrogens), more hydrogens are added causing the chains to lay flat! This makes an unsaturated fat have the same composition of saturated fats--these "special" (and very unhealthy fats) are called "trans fatty acids." These trans fatty acids, and saturated fats increase LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), whereas unsaturated fats increase HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol).

Now, fats are not all bad! In fact, we need fats. They provide us with energy storage (that is why animals who hibernate keep fat stores!), and insulation. The recommended fat intake is 20-35% of total calorie intake.