Artificial Trans Fats. What's Your Current View?

[lvysaur]

For the last few days, I've been eating cake frosting with a very high proportion of transfats. For reference, one serving had 6g of fat, 1.5 g saturated, and 1.5g trans.

I noticed very estrogenic symptoms, like a dysfunctional/hypersexual libido shortly after consumption. Anecdotally, I don't think I've had such strong effects from eating high PUFA meals alone, so I suspect that trans fats may actually be worse than PUFA.

 

[CoolTweetPete]

Relevant quote from mystery blogger Andrew Kim,

"In enzymatic processes, PUFA that can bend into a tight hairpin shape, so as to facilitate the formation of a ring structure, can be oxidized to a host of messenger molecules collectively called eicosanoids. So, cis oriented PUFA can participate in these reactions, whereas trans oriented PUFA can’t, which explains why trans fatty acids are more resistant to enzymatic (and nonenzymatic) peroxidation processes, and thus not likely to lead to inflammation (and oxidative stress) like other PUFA.1(The alarmism and the pleading, in sepulchral tones, to avoid trans fatty acids at all costs, at least thus far, is unfounded and gross. Ew.)
Besides arachidonic acid (AA), other 20-carbon PUFA, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an omega-3 fatty acid, and ETA, an omega-9 fatty acid, can form their own series of eicosanoids."

Andrew Kim Blog: PUFA, Lipid Peroxidation Processes, and the Implications for Atherosclerosis and Diet Part III

If 1.5g were SFA, an 1.5g were transfat, could the other 3g of fat be PUFA or MUFA?

 

[tankasnowgod]

I was just thinking about this myself today, after considering Hydrogenated Coconut Oil. After all, EVERYONE KNOWS that Trans Fats are BAD, BAD, BAD and cause MAJOR HEART DISEASE just like..... well, just like Saturated Fats are supposed to, right?

So, I began to wonder..... what exactly is the evidence against Trans Fats? I found this review after some basic research- Trans-Fats and Coronary Heart Disease

It seems that the evidence largely rests on observational studies, and some clinical trials that indicate Trans Fats may raise LDL, and lower HDL. Faaaaaaar from rock solid. Considering the LDL/HDL effects rest on the Lipid Hypothesis, I would say that those don't count for that much. And the observational data? Certainly not proof of any causal relationship, and I wouldn't doubt that any group that consumed high amounts of Trans Fats also had to consume high amounts of PUFA oil (since, where else would they be coming from?)

Not a very good foundation to draw any conclusions about their effect on the cardiovascular system, I say. After all, any negative effects noted in epidemiologic studies could simply be a surrogate for the negative effects of Omega 6 fats.

What this mean for me (personally) is that I have no fear consuming any sort of Hydrogenated Coconut Oil in the future.

 

[sladerunner69]

I was just thinking about this myself today, after considering Hydrogenated Coconut Oil. After all, EVERYONE KNOWS that Trans Fats are BAD, BAD, BAD and cause MAJOR HEART DISEASE just like..... well, just like Saturated Fats are supposed to, right?

So, I began to wonder..... what exactly is the evidence against Trans Fats? I found this review after some basic research- Trans-Fats and Coronary Heart Disease

It seems that the evidence largely rests on observational studies, and some clinical trials that indicate Trans Fats may raise LDL, and lower HDL. Faaaaaaar from rock solid. Considering the LDL/HDL effects rest on the Lipid Hypothesis, I would say that those don't count for that much. And the observational data? Certainly not proof of any causal relationship, and I wouldn't doubt that any group that consumed high amounts of Trans Fats also had to consume high amounts of PUFA oil (since, where else would they be coming from?)

Not a very good foundation to draw any conclusions about their effect on the cardiovascular system, I say. After all, any negative effects noted in epidemiologic studies could simply be a surrogate for the negative effects of Omega 6 fats.

What this mean for me (personally) is that I have no fear consuming any sort of Hydrogenated Coconut Oil in the future.

What about the people who try to eat the 10lb burger at the heart attack grill in las vegas, and end up being hospitilized from having a heart attack or stroke? I would assume that the beef and cheese provide the vast majority of the fat in those burgers, and that would be mostly saturated and trans.

 

[Westside PUFAs]

There are also non-artificial trans fats as well.