Even tiny bits of trans fat can make your heart and blood vessels sick.
Scientific Claim
Dietary intake of industrial trans fatty acids, even at low levels, is causally associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.
Original Statement
“The FDA has stated that trans fats are not generally recognized as safe for human consumption. Even small amounts have been heavily linked to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.”
Context Details
Domain
cardiology
Population
human
Subject
dietary industrial trans fatty acids
Action
increase risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
Target
heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (3)
A High Intake of trans Fatty Acids Has Little Effect on Markers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Humans
This study found that eating lots of artificial trans fats raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol, which is known to hurt your heart—even though it didn’t find strong evidence that these fats cause inflammation, it still confirms they’re bad for your cardiovascular health.
Is the Association between Dietary Trans Fatty Acids and Insulin Resistance Remarkable in Japan?
This study found that eating artificial trans fats made blood sugar control worse in people with diabetes and harmed cholesterol levels, both of which raise the risk of heart disease and diabetes—so yes, even small amounts of these fats are harmful.
Levels of plasma trans-fatty acids in non-Hispanic white adults in the United States in 2000 and 2009.
The study found that people’s blood levels of harmful trans fats went down after food labels and restaurant rules changed, which means less of these fats were being eaten—this supports the idea that eating even small amounts of these fats increases heart disease and diabetes risk.
Contradicting (1)
A high intake of industrial or ruminant trans fatty acids does not affect the plasma proteome in healthy men
This study looked at whether eating a lot of artificial trans fats changed proteins in the blood, and found no change—but it didn’t check if people got heart disease or diabetes, so it doesn’t tell us if the fats are harmful or not.