The Journal of Lipid Research reports there are significant increases of Lp(a) (small particle lipid cholesterol) which is a most inflammatory source of bad cholesterol in those with cardiovascular disease. It produces irritation and inflammation that drives atherosclerosis, producing arterial plaque that increases cardiovascular accidents. (heart attack & stroke)

Omega 3’s greatly stop bad cholesterol and improve heart health.

• Recent studies show 25% to 30% reduction of inflammatory triglyceride fatty acids with constant, good levels of omega 3’s.

• Angina chest pain, a warning of heart danger, was decreased with good levels of omega 3’s.

• Numerous studies show increased omega 3’s reduce blood pressure and atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is a result of inflammation in the blood and linings of the arteries.  This produces a atherosclerotic plaque that can produce blood clots because of its roughness and inflammation. Blood pressure is increased because of the inflexibility of the arteries and the shrunken lumen size of the arteries.

Omega 3’s promote cardiovascular health; but trans fats increase the incidence of cardiovascular accidents. (heart attack & stroke)

What are the trans fats?  Trans fats are basically adulterated fats that are modified by man’s intervention. They greatly benefit the food industry but are enormous health hazards that propel degenerative diseases like heart disease, cognitive decline, cancer and even arthritis. They are banned in New York restaurants and partially banned in California.  Yet, they are commonly consumed by most people in their diets.

The food industry discovered in the seventies that by adding hydrogen to vegetable fat molecules, all the reactive “docking handles” on the fat molecule could be filled. This resulted in a fat molecule that was very resistant to chemical reactions.  It was basically inert.  It changed liquid oil into a solid grease.

When trans fats were incorporated into foods, they did not easily spoil. The hypothesis was that fats, especially like those in butter, unsaturated vegetable oils, all animal fats were especially bad because they were sources of cholesterol.  (wrong assumption). Trans fats are  very resistant to bacterial breakdown as well as poorly metabolized by your body.

Trans fat’s non-reactivity proved to be harmful, not good. These trans fats themselves do not make a fat bed in your body; but they produced inflammation and even promote obesity in some cases. They interfere with fat metabolism. They also interfere with the omega 3’s and omega 6’s that are absolutely essential to your body’s health.

A second source of trans fats occurs in high heating and repeated heating of vegetable oils during cooking. Deep fried potatoes, or deep fried chicken are a good examples.  Vegetable fats and animal fats that previously were more easily metabolized now becomes more inert foreign objects.  This greatly taxes the liver whose job it is to rid the body of foreign invaders.  This is not a simple task because the trans fats are not chemically reactive…their half life takes 21 days to rid the body of them.

In addition, the over abundance of trans fats wreaks havoc with the omega essential fatty acids that are important to whole health because they are major sources of energy and cardiovascular health. The omega’s are important in fat metabolism, hormone production, protein synthesis, immune health and energy metabolism…Denis Van Loan D.D.S.

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