On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:13:31 -0700, Dan Abel > wrote:

>I predict based on my experience but absolutely no knowledge, that
>within five years it will be "discovered" that trans fats are no more
>harmful than other saturated (naturally hydrogenated) fats that they
>resemble.

Hello Dan,

I think you may already be correct. As a chemistry teacher, I am not
aware of a publication in the peer-reviewed literature that provides
hard data (not opinion) demonstrating that trans-unsaturated fats are
significantly worse for human health than saturated fats.

As I understand it (simplistically), trans-fatty acids have a
molecular shape very similar to saturated fatty acids, so that the
trans-fats mimic saturated fats in biological behavior. (Minor
differences in shape, for the chemically inclined; the bond angle
around the double bond(s) of the trans-fat is 120 degrees rather than
109 degrees.)

But to suggest that trans-fats are *worse* than saturated fats is
another animal altogether. I would be very interested to hear of
references (peer-reviewed and hard copy, not web-based) that (a)
provide a reasonable chemical hypothesis for trans-fats being *worse*
than saturated fats, and (b) describe the experimentation that
supports that hypothesis.

Best -- Terry