"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

A 1968 statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) noted that Partial hydrogenated vegetable oils contained trans fats rather than natural cis fats, but the statement was never distributed, and a researcher from Proctor and Gamble convinced the AHA's medical director to remove this statement before their recommendations were released to the public.

Lipid biochemist, Mary Enig, PhD, and journalist, Sally Fallon Morell write about this in a wonderful, eye-opening article about fats and heart disease titled The Oiling of America. Read the entire article | Email this article

"[Myocardial infarction / heart attacks were] almost nonexistent in 1910 and caused no more than three thousand deaths per year in 1930," 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.

"By 1960, there were at least 500,000 [heart attack] deaths per year in the US," they continue.

"What life-style changes had caused this increase?" Read the entire article | Email this article