Understanding Trans fats and why they are dangerous

Trans fats are fatty acids which do not occur naturally. To understand the danger these man-made molecules pose to us, we must understand the normal structure of a fat molecule.

Generally, fat cells store 'droplets' of fat, and just as water is composed of H2O, these droplets are composed of smaller molecules. Each of these molecules consists of a glycerol, and three fatty acid groups which bind to the glycerol (this structure is called a triacylglycerol).

Furthermore, each fatty acid is composed of a carboxylic acid (COOH) head group followed by a long series of CH2 groups and ending with a CH3 group, the length of the CH2 chain depends upon the fatty acid in question. To understand why this is significant, you do not need to know what these chemical names mean, you simply need to understand the following:

Saturated fats have straight CH2 chains which allow them to pack closely together (and therefore fit more) in each stored fat droplet. Unsaturated fats are better for humans to ingest because they contain at least one less H in their CH2 chains, and for each missing H a double bond between carbon atoms occurs.

This bond causes a disruption or kink in the chain - sort of a folding back - so the chain is not straight. These kinks and folds cause these chains to take up more space per molecule, therefore not allowing them to pack firmly together in a fat cell (this is why good fats like olive oil are liquid at room temperature: they cannot pack firmly enough to become solid), which translates to fewer fat molecules being stored in a droplet. Now, trans fats are engineered by adding H molecules to these good, unsaturated fats (a process called hydrogenation). This causes the double carbon bonds to break and new CH structures to form in the chain where the double bonds were, resulting in straight CH2 chains. The difference is these new chains are much more rigid and straight than even those of saturated fats, due to some other chemical rearranging that takes place as a side effect of the process. This rigid formation allows trans fats to pack extremely close together, which translates to very easy fat storage. This is what makes trans fats so darn dangerous! But theres more…

The creation of the method for engineering trans fats from initially healthy oils was well-intentioned. People cook with solid fats like butter and pure animal fat everyday. In a simpler biological era, when not as much was understood about this particular area, scientists believed that these engineered solid fats were a healthy alternative to the previously mentioned ingredients because they were made using plant and seed oils. Unfortunately, they were not only wrong, but completely backwards! In actual fact, the human body was not designed for breaking down and utilizing these trans fats. And there is some question as to whether weight gained from the storing of these fats can ever be lost!

To my disappointment, food manufacturers continue to hydrogenate otherwise healthy oils and use them in their products, despite the health risks, as a texture enhancer and preservative (a great example is peanut butter).

The moral of the story is, if you are a truly hardcore builder and want to make absolutely sure you win your next competition, you should be careful to avoid trans fats entirely while bulking (or cutting for that matter). READ LABELS. If the product in question does not list an amount of trans fat present in the product you are checking out, read the ingredients. If you see anything in the ingredients list that says ‘partially hydrogenated,’ avoid it! On the other hand, if you are just a recreational builder/athlete and aren’t looking to win a show anytime soon, then you’re probably safe indulging a little. Just don’t go overboard!

-M.R.M. Mitch McGill

B.S. Medical Technology/Chemistry - University of Missouri, Kansas City

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