Are Trans Fats Making You Crabby?

Survey says - very possibly...There is already a laundry list of reasons to avoid trans fats [made when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, as a food preservative]:for instance, they reduce "good" cholesterol levels and increase "bad" cholesterol levels, and may affect cognitive skills for people with high levels of trans fats in the blood.

Now, a study in the journal PLoS ONE reports that a link may exist between eating high amounts of foods with trans fats [found in everything from french fries and fried chicken to some cake mixes] and aggressive and irritable behavior. Researchers analyzed the eating habits of almost 1,000 people, as well as their behavior.They discovered that the amount of trans fats a person ate was a good judge of how aggressive and irritable they would behave, even after taking age, sex and ethnicity into account.

Besides being another good reason to stop eating trans fats, the study may also suggest that schools and prisons should cut back on the amount of foods with trans fat they serve.

In the wake of previous news about trans fats, many fast food chains [McDonald's and Wendy's are just two] have reduced or eliminated the use of trans fats oils in cooking. But they can show up in unlikely items like cake mixes. Many experts are recommending that people stop eating any foods made with or containing trans fats. They suggest that you check a food's nutritional data. If words like "vegetable shortening" or "partially hydrogenated" anything show up in the ingredients, you probably shouldn't eat it. Whether or not it gets you aggravated.

[PLoS ONE/huffingtonpost.com]