Initially, partially hydrogenated fats (trans fats) were artificially put into foods to substitute of the harmfulness of saturated fats.
We know today, that trans fats are possibly even more harmful than saturated fats. A new study conclusively reports that erythrocytes (or red blood cells) with a higher level of trans fats, was significantly related to the amount of trans fats that a person had eaten.
This makes sense. Our body does not manufacture this harmful substance; therefore, the level inside our body must be due to the level we take in from the outside through our foods.
The study also, once again, linked a high trans fat diet to cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks, strokes, unstable angina, etc.. For instance, women with a higher trans fat blood level were three times more likely to have a heart attack, than other women.
The interesting and unique part of this particular study, though, was that trans fats were not linked solely to the cholesterol level, or HDL (healthy lipids), triglycerides, or LDL (lousy lipids). Therefore, it is very likely that trans fats also impact on other lipid parameters, systemic inflammation, endothelial-cell function, insulin resistance, or cell-membrane fluidity.
The moral of this story is that in the future we will have to be careful, as a society, prior to introducing any engineering response to allegedly improve the food's value.
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