Trans Fatty Acid: Things You Should Know

According to www.medterms.com, trans fatty acid or trans fat is an unhealthy substance that are produced in foods by biohydrogenation in the rumen and appear in ruminant milks and their products and by processing of oils, partial hydrogenation, and heating. Trans fat is found in vegetable shortenings and in some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods and other foods, such as french fries.

Trans fatty acids (FA) be transferred to the fetus via cord blood and also to the infant through milk. The amounts are related to the quantities consumed in the maternal diet. The range of trans fat content in human milk is between 3.1 to 4.7. It can be different between one country to another. The difference in quantity is due to maternal diet. Consumption of trans fat in pregnant woman or lactating mother should be decreased, because it surely bring negative effects either for fetus or infant.

In this posting I want to try giving you the information about the effects of trans fat in human. Here are the points of its negative effects:

1. Hypercholesterolemic in adults, Not considered high risk according to the research.


2. None on amounts of prostaglandins in milk.


3. Impairment of biosynthesis of Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (LCPUFA) in premature infants and children and of growth in premature infants. However a causal relationship between trans FA intake and changes in early development not established according to Carlson, et al..


4. Trans fatty acids found in plasma triglycerides, sterol esters, and phospholipids of premature infants. Trans negatively correlated with birth weight and with the biochemical reactions alpha-linolenic acid to docosahexaenoic and linoleic acid to docosapentaenoic acid. Both LCPUFA (DHA and AA) required for maturation of brain and nervous system of infants


5. Effects in number 4 seen in children, 1–15 yr where applicable


6. Vaccenic acid (one of trans FA), t11-18:1, from ruminant fats may have less or no effect on coronary heart disease in women, it was inferred from Retrospective Dietary Study.


7. Trans FA in plasma of premature infants may be inversely associated with LCPUFA in membrane lipids.
>

Hopefully this information will be useful for you.

Regards.

Kindly References: Robert G. Jensen, “Lipids in Human Milk”, Lipids, vol. 34, no. 12, 1999.

If you enjoyed the articles, you can sign up for our daily email newsletter.