Research

Hormonal

Higher erythrocyte trans fatty acid content is significantly associated with an elevated risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), with individuals in the highest quartile having a relative risk of 3.3 compared to the lowest quartile after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors and other fatty acids.

High levels of trans fats in your blood cells are a strong predictor of heart disease risk. This risk persists even after accounting for other lifestyle factors like smoking, weight, and exercise. To mitigate this risk, minimize intake of partially hydrogenated oils found in many processed foods, as these directly elevate your trans fat biomarkers and negatively impact your cholesterol profile.

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After adjustment for age, smoking status, and other dietary and lifestyle cardiovascular risk factors, higher total trans fatty acid content in erythrocytes was associated with an elevated risk of CHD. The multivariable relative risks (95% confidence intervals) of CHD from the lowest to highest quartiles of total trans fatty acid content in erythrocytes were 1.0 (reference), 1.6 (0.7 to 3.6), 1.6 (0.7 to 3.4), and 3.3 (1.5 to 7.2) (P for trend <0.01).
Qi Sun et al. · Circulation · 2007

Why this rating

Nested case-control design within a large prospective cohort (Nurses' Health Study) with rigorous biomarker analysis and adjustment for confounders, though observational nature prevents causal proof.

Source

A Prospective Study of <i>Trans</i> Fatty Acids in Erythrocytes and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease

Qi Sun et al. · Circulation · 2007

DOI 10.1161/circulationaha.106.679985

case_control · n=493Cited 246×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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