KEY POINTS:
Crispy on the outside and melt-in-your-mouth in the middle, there's no question that foods containing trans fats taste good.
But the days may be numbered for these artery-clogging fats as debate heats up about the dangers they pose for unsuspecting consumers tucking into baked goods.
They're not listed
on food labels, but the solid, blended fat known as trans fats commonly lurks in pastries, biscuits, cakes, pie crusts and deep-fried morsels.
The fat gives food its crispy, crunchy texture and long shelf life and even nutritionists admit to the "yumminess" it gives snacks.
But trans fats stick to artery walls - and stay there - because they're formed by pushing hydrogen through polyunsaturated vegetable oil, making a stiffer, more stable fat.
Unlike all other unhealthy fats, they deliver a double whammy to the heart by raising "bad" LDL cholesterol while depleting "good" HDL cholesterol.
Studies have shown that eating just a little more of these fatty acids dramatically increases the risk of coronary heart disease and reduces women's fertility.
New York recently instituted a ban on trans fats in all of its 25,000 restaurants and Denmark has outlawed them nationwide.
Australia, too, is looking at ways to restrict consumption, with the National Heart Foundation, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, the Dietitians Association of Australia and the Australian Food and Grocery Council collaborating on the issue. Australia's consumption of trans fats is relatively low at 0.6 per cent, and well below the United States, which consumes between 2 and 3 per cent chiefly as a result of widespread use of corn and soy oil.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that some areas of the food industry have already swapped trans for saturated fats, like unhealthy palm oil.
Peter Clifton, director of the nutrition clinic of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, says saturated fats are taking a far bigger toll.
"It would be very unfortunate if the obsession with trans fats distracted people from the overall emphasis of reducing saturated fats," he says.
But nutritionist and dietitian Rosemary Stanton believes trans fats are the worse of two evils. "There's the frying pan and the fire but I'd say trans fats are definitely hotter."
She believes the reported 0.6 per cent average consumption "radically under-rates" how much is being consumed.
At the heart of the problem is the failure to force manufacturers to label trans fats on food packaging, Dr Stanton says.
"The public has a right to know what they're eating."
Labelling changes in the US have inspired many companies to remove all trans fats "simply because they don't like to label them".
- AAP