shelagh duffett
People who fill up on trans fat-loaded foods - snacks made with partially hydrogenated oils - are more prone to irritability and full-on aggression, according to a new study from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
The researchers looked at the diet surveys of 945 American men and women and also assessed them for conflict management, history of aggression and how irritable and impatient they rated themselves. The authors adjusted for sex, age, education, drinking and smoking.
"This study provides the first evidence linking dietary trans fatty acids with behavioural irritability and aggression," conclude the researchers, led by Beatrice Golomb, an associate professor of medicine at the university.
"If the association between trans fats and aggressive behaviour proves to be causal, this adds further rationale to recommendations to avoid eating trans fats, or including them in foods provided at institutions like schools and prisons, since the detrimental effects of trans fats may extend beyond the person who consumes them to affect others," Dr. Golomb warned.
Trans fat-laden foods have already been shown to hinder metabolic function, insulin resistance and cardiac health.
Are you irritable after a junk-food binge? Do the findings make you think twice before filling the cart with frozen pizzas?
Zosia Bielski