Elaidic acid is the most commonly found trans fatty acid found in cell membranes.
What is a trans fat?
Trans fat, or trans-fatty acids, are unsaturated fatty acids that come from either natural or industrial sources. Naturally-occurring trans fat come from ruminants (cows and sheep). Industriallyproduced trans fat are formed in an industrial process that adds hydrogen to vegetable oil converting the liquid into a solid, resulting in “partially hydrogenated” oil (PHO).
Potential health impact of consuming foods that contain trans fat:
Approximately 540,000 deaths each year can be attributed to intake of industrially produced trans-fatty acids.
High trans fat intake increases the risk of death from any cause by 34%, coronary heart disease deaths by 28%, and coronary heart disease by 21%.
This is likely due to the effect on lipid levels: trans fat increases LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels while lowering HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels.
Trans fat has no known health benefits.
References:
- https://www.journal-of-cardiology.com/article/S0914-5087(17)30015-1/fulltext
- https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118206
Elaidic
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