Nutritional lipids are the fats which--along with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated counterparts--are recommended to enhance the quality of human life. They are rumored (and in some cases, proven) to combat cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, macular degenerative eye disease, attention deficit disorder and well...just about every condition under the sun.
“The science behind the effects of dietary fat on human health is so complex that there are no simple and straightforward answers to the questions in the field today,†says Nurhan Dunford, assistant professor and oil/oilseed chemist at Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, Okla.). For example, some manufacturers now see trans fatty acids (TFA) as a curse to be exorcised from their products. However, few recognize that one TFA, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a milk-fat product found in ruminant animals and their products, has been shown to fight cancer and arteriosclerosis in regulated, scientific studies. The most surprising characteristic of CLA is that it may also reduce body fat by preventing fat accumulation in fat cells.