Wellness, Nutrition Standards

Nutrition Standards
Hawaii State Department of Education

NS6: The school does not sell any products containing trans fats.

What are trans fats?

Trans fats occur naturally in some foods, such as meat and dairy products. Artificial trans fats are created by adding hydrogen to vegetable oil. This process is called hydrogenation. Trans fat can be found in foods made with or fried in partially hydrogenated oils.

Why are they bad?

Trans fat raises your ("bad") LDL cholesterol and lowers your ("good") HDL cholesterol. High intake of saturated fats, trans fats, and cholesterol increases the risk of unhealthy blood lipid levels, which, in turn, may increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

Contribution of Various Foods to Trans Fat Intake in the AmericanDiet (Mean Intake = 5.84 g)

The major dietary sources of trans fats listed in decreasing order. Processed foods and oils provide approximately 80 percent of trans fats in the diet, compared to 20 percent that occur naturally in food from animal sources. Trans fats content of certain processed foods has changed and is likely to continue to change as the industry reformulates products.

Food Group	Contribution (percent of total trans fats consumed)
Cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, etc.	40
Animal products	21
Margarine	17
Fried potatoes	8
Potato chips, corn chips, popcorn	5
Household shortening	4
Other (note 1.)	5

Notes:

Includes breakfast cereal and candy. USDA analysis reported 0 grams of trans fats in salad dressing.Source: Adapted from Federal Register notice. Food Labeling; Trans Fatty Acids in Nutrition Labeling; Consumer Research To Consider Nutrient Content and Health Claims and Possible Footnote or Disclosure Statements; Final Rule and Proposed Rule. Vol. 68, No. 133, p. 41433-41506, July 11, 2003. Data collected 1994-1996.

© Hawaii State Department of Education, P.O. Box 2360, Honolulu, HI 96804; Physical address: 1390 Miller St, Honolulu, HI 96813; phone: 808-586-3230; fax: 808-586-3234. All rights reserved. For problems/questions concerning this web site, please email the webmaster. Links to other web sites should not be considered an endorsement. DOE is not responsible for the content of external web sites.