Trans fat raises death risk from sudden cardiac arrest

By David Liu

Sunday Dec 5, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) – Of women who are diagnosed with coronary heart disease, those who have higher intake of dietary trans fat may be more likely to die from sudden cardiac arrest than those who do not, according to a new study in in the American Heart Journal.

Trans fats are known to be artery-clogging and have been linked to a worsened cholesterol profile and elevated risk for heart attack. Trans fat can not only raise bad cholesterol but lower good cholesterol as well.

But it is not clear whether trans fat raises a person's risk of dying from sudden cardiac arrest, which is often caused by rhythm irregularity in the heart's upper chambers making it impossible for the heart to pump blood to the whole body.

The study conducted by Dr. Stephanie Chiuve of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues followed 87,000 U.S. women participating in a long-running Nurses' Health Study for 26 years during which, 317 women died from cardiac arrest.

The researchers found intake of trans fats was not correlated to the risk of sudden cardiac death when all subjects were included.

However, there was an association between trans fat intake and risk of sudden cardiac found among those who had underlying coronary heart disease.

Dr. Chiuve and colleagues found of women who had coronary heart disease, those who had 2.5 percent of their daily calories from trans fat were three times MORE likely to die suddenly of cardiac arrest compared to those who only had less than one percent of daily caloric intake from trans fat.

The American Heart Association recommends intake of one percent of daily calories from trans fat, according to Reuters. But scientists say that trans fats play no physiological roles in humans other than as a source of energy. The problem is that trans fatty acids are not natural forms of fatty acids and the body could not handle them as well.

The Food and Drug Administration warned that consumers should not avoid all trans fat or risk becoming deficient of many nutrients because trans fat is now present in most types of processed foods and restaurant-prepared foods.

Early studies have suggested trans fat may raise risk for diabetes and possibly for cancer as well. Early Harvard epidemiologists and nutritionists estimated that as many as 100,000 people die in the United States each year from something related to trans fat.