MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Are 3 or 4 grams of trans fats in a serving of baked or fried food bad for you, or can you stop worrying?

Answer: It's always unhealthy, since no amount of the artery-clogging artificial fat is good for you.

However, a new study suggests that the Nutrition Facts panel found on the side of grocery store products does a poor job of getting that message across to consumers.

"It's very misleading to just throw a number out there," contends study author Elizabeth Howlett, a professor of marketing at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville.

Her team found that the average health-conscious consumer is often misled by trans fat information found on the Nutrition Facts panel.

The main problem is that because no amount of trans fat is good for you, it makes no sense to post a percentage of the "recommended daily value" -- as is done with other ingredients such as sugar, or total or saturated fats. So consumers are just left with a number -- such as 2, 3 or 4 grams of trans fat per serving -- and no way of interpreting how unhealthy that might be.

Furthermore, compared to the amounts of calories or carbohydrates listed on the Nutrition Facts panel -- which can often run into the dozens or hundreds of units -- a few grams of trans fat can seem harmless, Howlett said. In that context, consumers often think, "4 grams, wow, that looks good," she explained.

In reality, the American Heart Association states that anything over 2 grams per day of trans fat is definitely bad for you -- and it's preferred that your intake stay at zero.

The average consumer doesn't know this, however. Reporting in a recent issue of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Howlett and her colleagues had nearly 600 adults assess the relative nutritional value of a number of snack crackers with Nutrition Facts labels that were manipulated to display varying levels of trans fat per serving.

All of the participants had good reason to eat healthy: In one experiment all the volunteers were diabetic, and in a second experiment they had all been diagnosed with heart disease.

And yet the Arkansas team found that, in the absence of any education as to how much trans fat per day is good or bad for you, most participants failed to associate 3 or 4 grams per serving of trans fat with cardiovascular risk.

"When you tell someone what the trans fat level is in a product, and don't give them any guidelines about how to evaluate what that number means, that can lead to some false inferences," Howlett said.

The addition of trans fat to the list of ingredients on the Nutrition Facts panel is the first major change to the label since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration first introduced it back in 1994. Howlett didn't offer any fix of her own to make interpreting the label easier for consumers, but she believes that "there needs to be some educational component or campaign" whenever changes to the Nutrition Facts panel appear.

"That's something that the FDA would have to wrestle with," she said.

One labeling note did seem to help study participants make healthier food choices, Howlett said. A manufacturer's front-of-package claim that a product was "Low in Trans Fat" or had "Zero Trans Fat" did make participants more likely to consume the food in question.

Howlett supports the use of such claims, if valid, but notes that consumers still need to read the Nutrition Facts panel closely. That's because a product can have no trans fat but still be very high in unhealthy saturated fats or sugars, she said.

Discerning how much trans fat is in a take-out or sit-down restaurant meal can be even tougher. "Consumers have very little understanding in an away-from-home food context," Howlett said. "The information is there if consumers want to find it, but most consumers aren't highly motivated to sit at the Web and find out exactly how many calories and grams of fat and trans fat are in [restaurant] products."

The consequences of not knowing can be tough on the heart, however. According to a 2006 study from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a typical three-piece combo meal at Kentucky Fried Chicken contains a whopping 15 grams of trans fat.

Diners in New York City will soon have an easier time avoiding trans fats in restaurants, however. Starting Tuesday, health officials there are banning trans fats from menu items in the nation's largest city. A similar ban goes into effect in Philadelphia in September.

Things are slowly getting better in the grocery aisle, too, with most of the country's biggest manufacturers of packaged and processed foods beating a quick retreat from the use of trans fats in their products. But trans fat is still a prime component in many products. For example, Digiorno's Garlic Bread Crust Pepperoni Pizza For One contains 3.5 grams of trans fat per serving, as well as 16 grams of saturated fat, according to its Nutrition Facts panel. And Drake's Coffee Cakes also contain 2.5 grams of trans fat per serving (2 cakes), the product's panel says.

All of this means more must be done to educate consumers about the dangers of any level of trans fat, Howlett said. She believes the FDA needs to learn from the current confusion around trans fat numbers, to help consumers better interpret the Nutrition Facts panel the next time a change comes around.

"If there's going to be further changes -- because who knows what they are going to find next -- there also needs to be some sort of guidance for consumers, to be able to evaluate this information," Howlett said. "We are trying to get the information there that consumers need to make an informed choice, at the time that they are making the decision."

More information

To learn more about trans fats, visit the American Heart Association  .

MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- A punishing run in the summer sun deserves an ice cold beer, right?

And the just reward for a strenuous afternoon whipping your garden into postcard perfection -- how about a slightly chilled chardonnay?

Well, before you pop that top or twist off that cork you might want to consult a new report, called Alcohol Facts, that has the lowdown on the amount of calories and carbohydrates -- and alcohol -- in America's top-selling brands.

"This is information consumers don't have right now," said Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, which published the report. "This is a way to try to get that information about the alcohol content and calories and carbs to consumers."

For example, not all consumers know that a standard serving of the malt liquor Smirnoff Ice packs 241 calories, Waldrop said. "That's information they need, especially if they're watching their weight," he said.

Or that Seagram's Gin tops the list of spirits with 120 calories per 1.5-ounce serving, while Beringer Chardonnay and Gallo/Carlo Rossi Cabernet Sauvignon carry 120 calories per 5 ounce-glass.

To aid consumers, the federation developed a side-by-side comparison chart that shows the alcohol content, calories and carbohydrate content of the 26 best-selling alcohol products, spanning beer, wine and spirits. The chart details what's in a standard 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine and a 1.5-ounce serving of spirits. The chart is based on sales data from the Adams Beverage Group, and includes 13 brands of beers and malt liquors, five brands of wine, and eight types of liquor, including, gin, rum, tequila, vodka and whiskey.

The alcohol content per serving ranged from 0.42 fluid ounces to 0.70 fluid ounces, depending upon the specific brand and type of alcoholic beverage. But, the calorie and carbohydrate content varied significantly.

Among spirits, calories per serving ranged from 86 for spiced rum (Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum) to 120 for gin (Seagram's). The average drink contained 98 calories.

Among wines, the calorie range per serving was 105 for a merlot (Franzia Vintner Select) to 125 for cabernet sauvignon (Gallo/Carlo Rossi) and chardonnay (Beringer). The average number of calories in a 5-ounce glass of wine was 118.

The greatest disparity in calories was among beers and malt liquors. Light beers averaged 100 calories per 12-ounce serving, regular beers averaged 140, while malt liquors ranged from 192 to 241 calories.

When it came to carbohydrates, the range was zero (for spirits), to 0.8 grams per serving for chardonnay and up to 5.0 grams for cabernet sauvignon.

Among beers, carbohydrate levels ranged from 3.2 grams per serving for light beer to 38 grams per serving for malt liquor.

"In the long term, we want to get this information on alcohol packages in a standardized format," Waldrop said. "With that information right there, consumers can make informed decisions."

One public health expert agrees that alcoholic beverages should be labeled with their calorie and carb contents, not just the alcohol content.

"Most Americans drink. Most Americans are weight conscious as well," said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center. "Put these two facts together, and the calorie content of alcoholic beverages becomes a matter of general relevance. But it is a matter often overlooked."

More information

To view the Alcohol Facts chart, visit the Consumer Federation of America  .

MONDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Eating an unhealthy diet during pregnancy may raise your child's lifetime risk of obesity and elevated cholesterol and blood sugar levels, British researchers report.

In tests on rats, a Royal Veterinary College team fed one group of females a diet of processed junk food such as donuts, muffins, cookies, chips and sweets during pregnancy and breast-feeding, while another group of females received a healthy diet of regular feed.

The researchers compared the offspring of the two groups of female rats and found those born to mothers fed a junk food diet had higher levels of cholesterol and triglycerides, a type of fat found in the bloodstream. Both increase the risk of heart disease.

The offspring of the junk food-fed mothers also had higher levels of glucose and insulin, both of which increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.

These rats remained fatter through adolescence and into adulthood than the offspring of the mothers who ate a healthier diet during pregnancy and breast-feeding.

The study was published in the current issue of The Journal of Physiology.

"It seems that a mother's diet whilst pregnant and breast-feeding is very important for the long term health of her child," study co-author Dr. Stephanie Bayol said in a prepared statement. "We always say 'you are what you eat.' In fact, it may be true that 'you are what your mother ate.' This does not mean that obesity and poor health is inevitable, and it is important that we take care of ourselves and live a healthy lifestyle. But it does mean that mothers must eat responsibly whilst pregnant."

Even though this study was carried out in rats, the findings are likely applicable to humans, study co-author Professor Neil Stickland added.

"Humans share a number of fundamental biological systems with rats, so there is good reason to assume the effects we see in rats may be repeated in humans. Our research certainly tallies with epidemiological studies linking children's weight to that of their parents," Stickland said in a prepared statement.

More information

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offers advice about nutrition during pregnancy  .

SATURDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- Going barefoot is one of the simple pleasures of summer, but some who doff their shoes and socks suffer injuries such as cuts and puncture wounds. In some cases, those injuries develop infections that require surgery.

If you do go barefoot, check out these safety tips from the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons:

• Make sure you're vaccinated against tetanus. Teens and adults should get booster shots every 10 years.
• Apply sunscreen to the tops and bottoms of your feet to protect them from sunburn. Rare, but deadly, skin cancers can develop on the feet.
• Wear flip-flops or sandals around swimming pools, locker rooms and beaches. They'll help protect against cuts and abrasions from rough anti-slip surfaces and sharp objects hidden in beach sand, and prevent contact with viruses and bacteria that can cause athlete's foot, plantar warts and other foot problems.
• Use common sense. Every year, people lose toes while mowing the lawn barefoot and others suffer serious burns from accidentally stepping on stray campfire coals or fireworks. Remember that murky rivers, lakes and ponds can conceal sharp objects underwater.
• People with diabetes should never go barefoot, even indoors, because they may not "feel" a foot injury.
• If you suffer a puncture wound in your foot, see a doctor within 24 hours. A puncture wound must be cleaned properly and monitored throughout the healing process to avoid complications such as tissue and bone infections or damage to tendons or muscles in the foot.
• Inspect your feet on a routine basis for skin problems such as warts, calluses, ingrown toenails, suspicious moles, spots or freckles. The sooner a condition is detected, the easier it is to treat.

More information

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons has more about puncture wounds  .