We have all heard about the dangers of saturated fat. But another source of harmful fats has crept into our food supply. That source is trans fat.

Technically trans fatty acids, trans fats are a type of artery-clogging fat that is formed when vegetable oils are hardened into margarine or shortening. But trans fats are found in many other foods besides margarine and shortening. In fact, this unnatural fat is the processed food industry's fat of choice. Not only are fried foods like french fries and fried chicken loaded with them, but so are cereals, doughnuts, cookies, pastries and crackers - in short, nearly all snack foods.

Trans fat is considered worse than saturated fat by many scientists. It elevates bad cholesterol, lowers good cholesterol, increases triglycerides and increases the risk of heart disease. It makes blood platelets stickier, increasing the chance of clots and can cause major clogging of arteries, type 2 diabetes, obesity, immune dysfunction, and other serious health problems.

Even if the saturated fat content of a food is low, the trans fat content can be very high, but you won't see that on the label. At this time, only the saturated fat content is required to be listed on nutritional labels. The FDA won't require labels to mention trans fat until 2006. That's why it's often referred to as the "invisible" fat.

And that's why you must be on the lookout for them yourself. That "low-fat" snack food may actually contain hidden and harmful trans fat. If the label on a packaged food states the saturated fat content is 3 percent, but lists partially-hydrogenated oil in the ingredients, you can be sure the actual fat content is much higher.

Wherever you see the terms "hydrogenated oil" or "partially hydrogenated oil" (usually soybean and/or cottonseed oil), you know you're dealing with trans fats.

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