TRANS FATS

Before launching into a necessarily somewhat complicated description of what these strange‐sounding fats are, it might be helpful to understand why they are of interest. There is currently a widespread conviction among many medical and nutritional specialists that the dietary intake of fats can influence the likelihood that an individual will suffer a heart attack. But fats come in various types and the available evidence suggests that their effects are not all the same. While many people are becoming increasingly familiar with two of the types of fat, the polyunsaturates and the saturates, the remaining two major classes of fats in the UK diet are less well known. These are the ordinary ‘monounsaturated’ versions (which are the most important components of olive oil and rapeseed oil, for example) and the dark horse trans fats.