Trans fats adversely affect blood levels

In yet another study condemning trans fats, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that a person consuming 4 grams of trans fats in a daily diet that consisted of 2,000 calories had triple the risk of heart disease of a person consuming 2.6 grams of trans fats in a 2,000-fat calorie diet.

Earlier studies have shown a link between trans fats and heart disease, but the Harvard study is the first to show that people with the highest trans fats in their diet also had the highest levels of trans fats embedded in their red blood cells.

The study, reported Tuesday at the American Heart Association scientific session, found that high trans fat levels in the blood are also associated with increased levels of low density lipoproteins, the so-called bad cholesterol, and low levels of high density lipoproteins, the helpful cholesterol.

The study involved blood samples collected in 1989-90 from 30,000 participants of the Nurses' Health Study. "Our bodies do not need trans fats and this research shows they are not good for our health," Dr, Qi Sun said.

Bonnie - folks, 4 grams of trans fats in the Standard American Diet is very little. One order of french fries is double that! Let's get these out of our food supply.