Hydrogenated Oils

[Guest guest]

I took a look through the lipid bilayer section of _Molecular Biology of the

Cell_ and couldn't find any indication that the fatty acid of a phospholipid

has any effect on the charge. The charge is fully dependent on the phosphate

head, of which there are numerous types, with different charges.

I asked my cellular biology teacher-- she's a PhD, though I'm not sure her

specialty-- whether a specific fatty acid's inclusion into the lipid bilayer

could have a physiological effect on the charge of the layer or whether its

geometry could have a physiological effect, and she confirmed my suspicions.

She

said that charge is determined by the phophate head, not the lipid part, and

that the ratio of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in the membrane is

strictly regulated, and that only small shifts can occur, which are compensated

for

by cholesterol inclusion/exclusion.

The enzymes that assemble the phospholipids are very specific and

discriminate by specific fatty acid, and can't include other fatty acids " by

accident. "

But she agreed that trans fats could be incorporated into the membrane

possibly since they would be the same shape and length of a corresponding

saturated

fatty acid.

However, we also agreed that since the geometry is the same, this will have a

negligible effect or no effect on membrane flexibility.

I really don't see how trans fats in the membrane can affect the cellular

function, since they would have no contact with the inside or outside of the

cell. The lipid portion of the cell is isolated in the center of the lipid

bilayer and is non-polar, so does not carry or contain charges, and faces only

other

lipids.

I'm not by any means suggesting hydrogenated oils are " A-OK. " The

correlative data is abundant-- what's clear is that people who eat high amounts

of trans

fats are worse off than those who don't by a large margin. Regardless of

*why*, clearly one should minimize their intake of hydrogenated oils.

What I'm suggesting, rather, is that trans fats might not be " toxic " per se,

but may be much like white sugar or white flour-- the refining robs the food

of its nutritive value. Thus, the presence of hydrogenated oils displace

healthy fats that contain vitamins and essential fatty acids. Furthermore,

hydrogenated oils contain trace amounts of undesirable metals, and bleaching

agents.

Now I'm not claiming I *know* this is the case, I'm simply saying that there

is no reason that I've seen to believe that trans fats are toxic. Enig

claims that research shows they contribute to cellular malfunction, but she

doesn't devote a single word to describing the research, so I haven't so much as

an *abstract* to go on.

And again, I've asked repeatedly on this list and elsewhere for evidence of

an actual mechanism by which trans fats have toxic effects, and have yet to

come across one iota of such evidence.

Chris