Trans fats and Infertility

Filed in archive Infertility on February 20, 2007

Trans fats. Even the words have an unsavory feel to them. Well, guess what? Trans fats are unsavory, even when they're used on nutritious foods, like the vegetables shown here.

What are trans fats? The FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) describes them this way:

Basically, trans fat is made when manufacturers add hydrogen to vegetable oil--a process called hydrogenation. Hydrogenation increases the shelf life and flavor stability of foods containing these fats.

Trans fat can be found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, and other foods made with or fried in partially hydrogenated oils. Unlike other fats, the majority of trans fat is formed when food manufacturers turn liquid oils into solid fats like shortening and hard margarine.

Trans fats raise the level of LDL (that's the bad cholesterol) in the blood, and this can lead to clogged arteries and heart attacks. Now women have yet another reason to avoid trans fats. It can increase the probability of infertility. An article in Foodconsumer.org tells us:

Consuming foods rich in trans fats not only make a woman fat, but also increase her odds of becoming infertile, according to a new study published in the January issue of american journal of clinical nutrition.

The study led by Dr. Jorge E. Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues found that the infertility risk for a woman who eats trans fat was dose dependent, that is, the more trans fat a woman eats, the higher her risk of becoming infertile.

My thanks to Slashfoods.com for making me aware of this study.