4/6/2007 - Trans fats raise women's heart disease risk Excessive amounts of trans fatty acids in a woman's blood can significantly raise her risk for heart disease, according to a study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In the study, women with the highest levels of trans fats in their blood had three times the risk of heart disease as those with the lowest levels. Researchers arrived at their findings after analyzing blood samples from 32,826 women who took part in the Nurses Health Study. Trans fats are created when vegetable oils are partially hydrogenated, a process used by the food industry to improve the texture and stability of foods. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), the main sources of trans fats in the U.S. diet are cookies, crackers, pastries and fried foods. Trans fatty acids also naturally occur in beef, lamb and dairy products. Previous research has shown that one way trans fats harm the heart is by raising "bad" LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol and lowering "good" HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol. Both high LDL and low HDL are risk factors for heart disease. Researchers noted that the effect of trans fatty acids on cholesterol levels could not fully explain the increase in heart disease risk found in the study. They speculated that the results may be due to the effects of trans fats in combination with inflammation and insulin resistance (a condition that can lead to diabetes). The AHA recommends consuming less than 1 percent of total calories from trans fat and less than 7 percent of total calories from saturated fat each day. For a person who needs 2,000 calories each day, that would be less than 2 grams of trans fat and less than 16 grams of saturated fat each day. An example of a person who needs 2,000 calories per day is a female, age 35 to 50, who walks about 1.5 to 3 miles a day at three to four miles per hour. Funding for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health. Back