To avoid the dangerous effects of trans fats, you need to understand what they are. Trans fat are polyunsaturated vegetables oils that have been processed to make them solid at room temperature – these fats are known as partially hydrogenated oils. Heating polyunsaturated vegetables oils, as you do when you deep-fry foods in corn, safflower, peanut, and other common oils, is another way to produce trans fats. You will also find this in all sorts of other prepared foods, including mayo, salad dressings, candy bars, potato chips, and lots more.
Any food fried in polyunsaturated oil – the french fries at your favorite fast-food restaurant, for example – is basically being fried in trans fats, probably made from soybean oil. Instead of being better for you than food fried in saturated fats such as lard, tallow, or palm oil, these foods are actually worse. In fact, if you need a second reason, beyond sugar and flower, why people today are fatter than ever - trans fats are it.
What makes these molecular misfits
so dangerous is the way they raise
your LDL cholesterol, triglyserides,
and lipoprotein(a) levels and lower
your HDL cholesterol – the worst
possible combination of lipid chance.
Trans fats not only displace the natural fats and oils in the diet that provide essential fatty acids, they also block your absorption of the essential fatty acids you do manage to take in. Also, trans fats aggravate the problem that is considered a major life shortener – they make you produce more insulin than normal in response to blood glucose, while making your red blood cells responsive to insulin.
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