Natural trans fats: Beneficial for our bodies?
Walking down the isle of a grocery store, you come across a bag of cookies and a jug of milk. What do the two have in common? The presence of trans fat. Trans fat is the common name for unsaturated fat. To the everyday consumer, it’s the “bad stuff” that increases the risk chronic health problems.
So, what exactly are trans fats? They are fatty acids in the trans formation, which assemble into a solid much easier than those in cis shape. In industrial production level, they are made through hydrogenation of fatty acids.
Consumption of trans fats leads to many health issues. They include, increased risk of coronary heart disease, imbalance in the LDL:HDL ratio, obesity, liver dysfunction, diabetes and depression. With so many health risks attached to the consumption of trans fats, it is not surprising why they are labeled as the “bad stuff” among consumers.
Interestingly, not all trans fats are the bad. Recent research done by the Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, and the Department of Applied Microbiology and Food Science, found that natural source of trans fat, such as milk and beef, may have potential benefits to cardiovascular health. According to Spencer Proctor, one of the researchers, their early research suggest that the intake of natural trans fats give similar effects as consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids. The potential benefits of natural trans fats include reduced weight gains, and cholesterol. On top of that, it may have anti-inflammatory effects.
Trans fat may be more beneficial than we thought previously, given that we only consume the natural ones. As they give similar outcomes as consuming polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found mostly in nuts, seeds, fish, and vegetables. For those that avoided beef and milk due to trans fat can now go enjoy those products once again!.
Next time you go grocery shopping, keep this in mind!
Further Reading:
Research Article: Trans-11 Vaccenic Acid Dietary Supplementation Induces Hypolipidemic Effects in JCR:LA-cp Rats.
News Article: Vancouver Sun
September 24th, 2011 at 8:54 pm
Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Something to be curious about: Have you noticed how some people eat practically everything in reasonable amounts and stay healthy (they also look healthy) and some people struggle all their life with diets keeping them away from meats, cookies, pastry and either keep gaining weight or, even if they do loose weight, they look really unhealthy? I mean cases excluding those with health inherited physical problems, but those that create the problems themselves by avoiding certain products. And those include trans fats, that are sometimes essential for normal body condition.
Moral of the story: Enjoy life a little bit, relax and you’ll look both healthy and attractive!
September 28th, 2011 at 3:38 pm
It’s interesting to me that the amount of the healthy trans fat conjugated linoleic acid is greater in grass fed dairy and beef. Grass is what the cows are supposed to be eating, not grains!
Presumably the difference in healthy and unhealthy trans fats is more than just natural or synthetic. I would expect that the synthetic trans fats have structures that are different from conjugated linoleic acid. Perhaps the double bonds are at different positions in the chain and maybe the chains are of different lengths?
September 28th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
It’s true. I used to think all Trans fats are bad. What about those unnatural trans fats? Are they all bad for your health?
October 15th, 2011 at 9:54 am
Did anyone look at the end of the article where the funding source for the research is disclosed: “Supported by the Beef Information Centre (Canada) and the Dairy Farmers of Canada, the Alberta Livestock Industry Development Fund…” Interesting.
October 25th, 2011 at 12:11 pm
Good catch Eric! I am fairly certain there is other positive research about CLA. I should look 🙂