Todd Moody wrote: >I don't think it's a good idea to treat *all* trans-fatty acids as >equivalent to each other, just as all saturated fats do not have the >same effects. That sounds reasonable. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to research anything in depth, so I missed the point about there being different kinds of trans-fatty acids. >The particular trans fat found in milk and (free range) >beef is conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and this fat appears to be >beneficial. This correlates with something a professor of nutrition who specialised in lipids said in a lecture some years ago: that the fats found in prime beef steak were actually good for you, whereas those found in 'depot' meats were most certainly not. >It would be a mistake to infer from the fact that the >artificial trans fats in margarine or Oreos are bad that this one is bad >too. And of course it would be just as much a mistake to think that >becaused CLA is good, trans fats in general are harmless. Agreed. My personal conclusion was that it was the *amount* of trans-fatty acids consumed that was the critical factor. But, now you've brought up the fact that trans-fatty acids should not be considered as a whole, I shall have to do some more research to satisfy my own curiousity ;-) >I *thought* it had been shown that trans fats in general tend to raise >Lp(a) levels, an independent risk factor for heart disease. This, at >least, is what Enig and Fallon say, although I have learned that they >sometimes base conclusions on a single study. I'm not sure if this >conclusion is based on more robust data. I'll check this out too. There seem to be a lot of single studies around in this field. The examples I looked at previously ended their conclusions with cautions that further research needed to be done to back up their findings. Thanks for stirring my brian cells a little; they get pretty sluggish come Autumn, as I'm a slave of the seasons, as anyone who knows their Greek myths might have already deduced <g> Cheers, Persephone P.S. That reference for lectins you gave in another post makes fascinating reading. I had no idea that their effects were so far-reaching!