EDMONTON -- Not all trans fats are bad for your heart, new research from the University of Alberta has found.
In fact, natural trans fats found in yogurt, cheese, milk and your favourite cut of beef or lamb chop may actually lower your cholesterol and help reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes, says Flora Wang, a PhD student in the university's agricultural, food and nutritional science department.
"We want people to realize that natural trans fats are not necessarily detrimental," Wang said, noting the natural trans fats are far different than the industrial trans fats bursting from processed foods such as butter tarts and doughnuts.
"We want to attract more attention and focus to the protective effect of these natural trans fats, which might even be beneficial in those people with higher risk of heart disease."
Wang's research focused on foods with trans vaccenic acid, the most prominent natural trans fat found in dairy and beef products. For 16 weeks, she fed obese and diabetic rats a diet enriched with trans vaccenic acid and discovered their total cholesterol was reduced by about 30 per cent. Low-density lipoprotein -- or bad cholesterol, which can build up in and clog the arteries that feed the heart and brain -- was lowered by 25 per cent.
Triglyceride levels -- a form of fat that's elevated in people who are obese, smoke and drink a lot or eat too many carbohydrates -- went down by more than 50 per cent.
"It's kind of challenging the traditional idea of bad trans fat," Wang said.
With this new information, Wang and her supervisor, Spencer Proctor, want Health Canada to reconsider how they make manufacturers label their foods. Cookie-makers and dairy producers have to report all trans fats (except a healthy fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid) on their food labels, but they don't need to differentiate between the good trans fats and the bad ones.
Most likely, any trans fats identified in a carton of milk or tub of yogurt is 90 to 95 per cent natural -- therefore good, Proctor said.
-- Canwest News Service
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