Cholesterol

The medical histories of your first-degree relatives come next.

Start with the people who share half your genes - your parents, brothers and sisters, and children.

For each family member, list date of birth, general health, medical conditions, and - if appropriate - age at death and cause of death.

If you were adopted, the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse has information that may be helpful in securing medical histories of your birth parents.

Broadening your search to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, half brothers and half sisters, and cousins can reveal interesting patterns.Get medical information about relatives.

One strategy is to ask questions at family reunions, although you'll need to ask delicately, because such questions can raise guilt and anxiety.

Perhaps there's a "matriarch"- an older woman who knows a great deal about the extended family and is more than happy to share her knowledge.Old family letters or diaries may also contain clues.

Death certificates can be helpful, because they list age at death, cause of death and sometimes other medical conditions.

(For help in locating vital records departments, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welcom.htm).

News | Business...

and Burger King Holdings Inc.

have also said they will phase out trans fat from their products.

KFC said the change in cooking oils will not change how its fried chicken tastes.

"We have safeguarded the recipe and the flavor profile," said Doug Hasselo, KFC's chief food innovation officer.

Hasselo said the new cooking oil costs more, but the chain will absorb the extra expense without passing it along to customers.

The zero grams trans fat items at KFC also include its potato wedges.

Some of KFC's non-fried items still contain trans fat, including biscuits, pot pies, macaroni and cheese, and some desserts.

The company said it's working to remove trans fat from those items.

KFC was unveiling television advertising Monday to promote its switch to cooking oil without trans fat.

KFC stores will put up signs touting the conversion, and the chicken buckets will carry the health message within a week or two.

The company won praise from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that pushed for KFC to switch to a healthier cooking oil.

"To get rid of this one major problem improves their customers' health automatically, without the consumers doing anything," said Michael Jacobson, the group's executive director.

Customers at a KFC restaurant in the chain's hometown said they appreciated the change.

Steve Garber, part of a recent lunch...