Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
Trans fats in food come from two places: factories that process oils, and the stomachs of cows and other grazing animals.
Descriptive
A type of fat found in milk and meat turns into another fat called conjugated linoleic acid in the body, and that second fat might be good for your health.
Man-made trans fats and natural trans fats in dairy and meat are made of different chemical parts, and these differences might affect your health in different ways.
This method is especially useful for lab tests that look at how free radicals damage cholesterol, because it keeps the cholesterol from getting damaged before the test even starts.
This new method works with the same machines and skills labs already have — no new expensive tools or expert training needed.
The old way of cleaning LDL takes longer and causes more damage to the molecule — like rust forming on metal — while the new quick method keeps it healthier.
The same quick method used for LDL can also be used for Lp(a), with one extra short step, and it likely keeps Lp(a) from getting damaged by air too.
This new quick way to clean LDL cholesterol from blood samples keeps it from getting damaged by air exposure better than the old, slower methods, which means scientists can study it more accurately.
The tiny capsules keep the antibacterial oil working longer in the meat, so it doesn’t wear off as quickly as when the oil is just mixed in.
This special wrap helps keep the meat from becoming too acidic or too basic over time, which helps it stay fresh longer.
When carvacrol is trapped in tiny capsules, it works better at stopping cold-tolerant bacteria in meat than when it's just mixed in, especially after 9 days of refrigeration.
This special wrap slows down the growth of bacteria in ground beef, keeping it safer to eat longer than regular packaging.
A special plastic wrap made from cassava starch and a natural oil called carvacrol, trapped in tiny capsules, helps keep ground beef from going rancid longer than regular wraps.
Even though trans fats are bad for your heart, they don’t seem to make your body’s general inflammation much worse — so something else, like cholesterol, might be the main reason.
Mechanistic
Taking CLA supplements for three weeks doesn’t seem to change most common signs of inflammation in the blood, even though it might increase oxidative stress.
Eating a lot of trans fats for a few weeks slightly lowers one inflammation marker and raises another, but doesn’t change most others — so its effect on inflammation is small and mixed.
Taking CLA supplements for a few weeks may cause more damage to fats in your body, similar to how trans fats do, based on a chemical marker in urine.
Eating a lot of artificial trans fats for a few weeks makes your body produce more of a chemical that shows your fats are being damaged by stress, like rust forming on metal.
It’s not just being thirsty that makes mice eat salt—only when the angiotensin signal is present does turning on salt-craving cells make them lick salt, not when they’re just dehydrated.
If you remove most of the salt-craving brain cells, mice no longer seek out salt—even when they’re very low on it.
Causal
Only the salt-sensing brain cells get more active when salt is low—not other nearby cells—and they don’t get the signal from nerves in the gut, meaning they respond directly to hormones in the blood.
The same brain cells that sense low salt also have a built-in alarm for angiotensin, a hormone that signals low blood volume—so they respond to both signals together.
The salt-craving brain cells connect directly to a specific spot in the brain called the vlBNST—turning on just that connection makes mice drink salt water, even without other triggers.
Just turning on the salt-craving brain cells doesn't make mice eat salt fast—unless you also trigger the angiotensin signal, then they immediately start licking salt like crazy.