trans fats make you fatter

New Scientist is reporting (thanks to Megnut for the link) on a new study that found that monkeys fed strictly controlled diets showed that trans fats cause a lot more weight gain than other types of fat. One set of monkeys was fed a diet with 35% of calories from fat, and 8% from trans fats. Another set was fed a similar diet with no trans fats.

After six years on the diet, trans fat-fed monkeys gained an extra 7.2 per cent of their body weight, compared to just 1.8 per cent in the control monkeys. They also had 30 per cent more abdominal fat, which increases the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Yikes, that's a very remarkable difference! This FDA page has a listing of trans fat content in a number of processed foods. Trans fats are mostly found in hydrogenated vegetable oils, such as margarine and shortening, and also in relatively small amounts in dairy products and meat. For the record, Newman-Os do not contain trans fat.