Are Trans fats really that bad for us compared to other fats or is it just a case of diet culture throwing a random aspect of food under the bus like they did with Carbs?

Question

I will never forgive the diet industry for telling me potatoes were bad for me, once I stopped caring about fad shit and just eating at a deficit (including at least one baked potato a day) the pounds absolutely melted off.

It got me thinking about other foods that the government / diet companies have said are bad. Were trans fats actually a big problem? The ban certainly hasn’t done much for the obesity epidemic.

In: Other

Answer 1

Trans fats are actually bad for you, at least in dietary significant quantities. Their structure makes them do certain chemical things that natural (cis) fats do not do. That’s why they stay liquid at lower temperature. They’re actually, chemically different in a way that is extremely rare in nature (e.g. one cup of ordinary 2% cow’s milk contains about 0.2g of trans fats.)

Getting rid of trans fats doesn’t make people stop eating empty calories (whether from fatty foods or anything else.) It simply means they’re eating *less-bad* empty calories. Overall health is more than just fat intake.