Trans Fats Linked to Heart Disease, Early Death

The consumption of trans fats is tied to a higher chance of disease and dying sooner, according to a systematic review.

kerry grens
| 2 min read

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WIKIMEDIA, KAGOREating trans fats—the kinds produced by partial hydrogenation of vegetable oils or found naturally in meat—is linked with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and dying sooner. Saturated fats, on the other hand, which come from meat, butter, eggs, and some vegetable oils, did not have such associations. Both findings were published this week (August 12) in The BMJ.

“This result will be surprising to some since recommendations to lower saturated fat are still widely circulated, but there seems to be little basis for that—at least this study didn’t find any,” George Bray, a member of the American Board of Obesity Medicine who was not part of the study, told MedPage Today.

In their systematic review, the authors noted that dietary guidelines recommend limiting saturated and trans fats to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. To clear up the confusion, they pooled the results of several studies looking at links between the consumption of either saturated or trans fats and various conditions.

Saturated fats, it turned out, were not associated with stroke, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, or early death, “but ...

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Meet the Author

  • kerry grens

    Kerry Grens

    Kerry served as The Scientist’s news director until 2021. Before joining The Scientist in 2013, she was a stringer for Reuters Health, the senior health and science reporter at WHYY in Philadelphia, and the health and science reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio. Kerry got her start in journalism as a AAAS Mass Media fellow at KUNC in Colorado. She has a master’s in biological sciences from Stanford University and a biology degree from Loyola University Chicago.

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