This is a fairly short post, but it’s just been on my mind: what makes a trans-fat bad? We talked about this in class, but I found the visualization helpful. From this image, we can see that trans fats (e.g., margarine) are more rigid and unnatural for humans with our flexible cells, while cis fats (e.g., butter) have that flowing, bent, and less compatible fatty tail. I’ve always heard that fats that melt or soften at room temperature are the healthiest of fats, wheres those that don’t, like solid vegetable oil (e.g., Crisco), are unnatural and unhealthy in larger doses. I think our discussion in class about flowing cells really helps us to understand why! Now, you too can be the cool guest at all your next parties talking about why trans fat is out, and butter is in!
I’ve always heard the same thing too! But also that butter is mostly saturate fat, which is definitely not as good as cis fats. I liked rationalizing our dietary choices in biochem this semester 🙂