New government dietary guidelines are in the works that may advise people to eat more fish and other foods with beneficial fats but to cut back on foods with harmful fats like potato chips.

The White House Office of Management and Budget wrote the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments yesterday urging them to revise current guidelines to distinguish between harmful trans fats that increase the risk of heart disease and beneficial fats such as omega-3 that can lower the risk.

Concerns about trans fatty acids, or trans fats, have increased in recent years as more studies show they increase the risk of heart disease by lowering the level of good cholesterol, or HDL, while raising the level of bad cholesterol, LDL.