Research

Hormonal

Industrial trans fatty acids (iTFA) increase cardiovascular disease risk by promoting atherosclerosis and inflammation, whereas ruminant trans fatty acids (rTFA) may have neutral or anti-atherogenic effects.

Avoid foods with 'partially hydrogenated oils' as they contain industrial trans fats which increase heart disease risk. However, you do not need to eliminate natural trans fats found in meat and dairy, as they may not have the same negative effects and could potentially be beneficial.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Trans fatty acids have been strongly associated with an increased incidence of myocardial infarctions through atherosclerotic and coronary artery disease development in human and mouse trials [2, 29-32]. It appears to induce this effect via pro-inflammatory actions [32]. However, not all TFAs appear to induce atherosclerosis. The iTFA elaidic acid, induces atherosclerosis whereas the rTFA, vaccenic acid, prevents the development of atherosclerotic lesions in low density lipoprotein knockout (LDLr-/-) mice fed high cholesterol diets [33].
Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey · 2006

Why this rating

The paper cites strong human observational data for iTFA and animal models for rTFA, but notes controversy and gaps in direct human mechanistic studies for rTFA.

Source

Trans Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease

Dariush Mozaffarian et al. · Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey · 2006

DOI 10.1097/01.ogx.0000228706.09374.e7

narrative_reviewCited 57×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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