Replacing 2% of calories from trans fats with plant-based monounsaturated fat was associated with a 20% lower risk of coronary heart disease according to a study by researchers at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Monounsaturated fat from animal sources did not have the same effect.

Replacing 2% of calories from trans fats with animal-based monounsaturated fat was associated with a 12% lower risk of coronary heart disease (as opposed to a 20% lower risk when replacing with plant-based monounsaturated fat).

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Men and women in the top one-fifth for consuming the most trans fat were 13% more likely to die over the next 26-32 years compared to the one-fifth of men and women consuming the least according to a study from researchers at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

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Every 2% higher intake of trans fats was associated with a 16% greater risk of death over the next 26-32 years according to a study from researchers at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

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"Trans fatty acids are sufficiently similar to natural fats that the body readily incorporates them into the cell membrane; once there their altered chemical structure creates havoc with thousands of necessary chemical reactions—everything from energy provision to prostaglandin production," writes lipid biochemist, Mary Enig, PhD, and journalist, Sally Fallon Morell in a wonderful, eye-opening article about fats and heart disease titled The Oiling of America.
"But most of the trans isomers in modern hydrogenated fats are new to the human physiology and by the early 1970's a number of researchers had expressed concern about their presence in the American diet, noting that their increasing use had paralleled the increase in both heart disease and cancer," they note. Read the entire article | Email this article

Monkeys fed an diet containing eight percent of calories as trans fats -- partially hydrogenated soybean oil, which is the major source (80-90 percent) of trans fats in the American Diet -- gained 7.2 percent of their body weight compared to only 1.8 percent for monkeys fed an identical diet that contained no trans fats according to a six-year study from researchers at Wake Forest University's School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

"The major findings of this study showed that, in the absence of caloric excess, [trans fats] induces greater weight gain," the study concluded.

"Our data signify that [trans fats] are an independent factor in weight gain and abdominal fat distribution, both of which are linked to MS.

Practical suggestion: Avoid foods with partially hydrogenated oil, which, unfortunately, is most processed foods, or at least make sure that they contain no trans fats which, at this time, is difficult to do.

The moneys fed trans fats had one-third (33 percent) more belly fat and one-third (29 percent) more subcutaneous fat, that is fat under the skin, than monkeys fed no trans fats. Read the entire article | Email this article

"Among overweight women, for every one percentage increase in percentage of calories from trans fat, women gained an additional 2.3 [pounds]," notes a new paper from Walter Willett and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. Read the entire article | Email this article

"[F]ast food from major chains in most countries still contains unacceptably high levels of industrially produced trans-fatty acids... [which] have powerful biological effects and may contribute to increased weight gain, abdominal obesity, type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease," concludes a study from the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Trans fats increase belly fat and insulin resistance according to a study done on monkeys. Read the entire article | Email this article

Here is a summary of research findings about the effects of omega-3 and -6 fatty acids on breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, diabetes, cholesterol. Read the entire article | Email this article