Quote Originally Posted by johan
also many studies DO NOT separate betwen trans fats and saturated fats since trans fat is a saturated fat.
Actually trans fats and saturated fats are not remotely the same molecularly. Trans fats begin as unsaturated fats initially, where their double bonds of H-C-O are single bonds they are chemically restructured to add in the hydrogen molecules therefore creating a double bond in order to make trans fats a solid at room temperature and therefore allow them to be used in forms of frying/cooking that require solid fats. Now that the hydrogen ions have been added to the unsaturated fats they are are now too large of a fatty acid chain to be broken down efficiently by the body and used.

Saturated fats actually play a number of metabolic roles that trans fats do not. Hormonally saturated fats actually have a key role in sex hormone developement, hence the reason why no ADA diet would ever advocate eliminated saturated fats entirely from your diet.

Quote Originally Posted by Seattle Junk
Very good point Johan. So many people think the choestrol # is the end all. The ratio of bad to good cholestrol is the key.
In fact many doctors and labs will now return their lab results in the form of a ratio rather than total numbers for this very reason.

Quote Originally Posted by Johan
was it a increase in both ldl and hdl. A increase in total cholesterol means nothing.

I would like links to that though just to read more about it. Every book I have read in nutrition states what I said.

Also keep in mind 100 years ago we got most of our fat from lard, butter, meat. with not even 1/10 of the heart disease today. Makes you go "hmmmmmm"
That is some what true but I feel that blanket statement could actually hurt the board members by telling them they shouldnt be concerned with total cholesterol levels which is in fact not true. An increase in total cholesterol actually does indicate some problem because generally speaking 99 times out of 100 it is an increase in LDL levels and not that of HDL levels. It is far and away more difficult to increase your HDL than it is to increase your LDL.

I have no links on the study because all of my information comes from RD books. If you would like a very comprehensive bible on this subject matter I would recommend Krause's Food, Nutrition, & Diet Therapy (16th Edition). This essentially the godfather of RD textbooks and what I use in almost all of my RD classes and assessments. It is a peer reviewed and approved text book used by many RD's and MD's.