Dr. Robert Lustig has a talk called Sugar, the Bitter Truth, in which he talks about his research into pediatric obesity. He shows that many populations have th

Dr. Robert Lustig has a talk called Sugar, the Bitter Truth, in which he talks about his research into pediatric obesity. He shows that many populations have thrived both low-fat and low-carb diets, then demonstrates why you cannot have both high fat and simple carbohydrates without expecting to see high rates of inflammatory disease. If you can predict that the population is going to keep consuming high amounts of sugar, would it be better to recommend a low fat diet? Trans fat is a fat that has hydrogens next to double bonds on both sides of the carbon chain. The natural trans fats that sometimes occur in beef and milk have been shown to possibly have a positive effect on LDL. The main source of trans fat in the modern diet has been through artificially created trans fat made in a process using high heat and a catalyst like nickel to rearrange the bonds. Partially hydrogenated fats are ones where not all the hydrogen bonds are saturated, and are technically cis fats. They did a six year study with monkeys, using fat as a control in the diet. One group ate trans fat, the other saturated: http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2006/Trans_Fat_Leads_To_Weight_Gain_Even_on_Same_Total_Calories,_Animal_Study_Shows.htm http://www.wakehealth.edu/News-Releases/2006/Trans_Fat_Leads... Fish oil is not a trans fat. As far as a government boogeymen go, you may be confusing the research done in the late seventies that led to government recommendations against consuming saturated fats. You can read more about that, trans, and cis fats here: http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Biological_Chemistry/Lipids/Fatty_Acids/Hydrogenation_of_Unsaturated_Fats_and_Trans_Fat http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Biological_Chemistry/Lipids/Fatt...