IGOR PRAVST

Nutrition Institute,
Tržaška cesta 40, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Member of the Agro FOOD Industry Hi Tech Scientific Advisory Board

Very recently, Golomb and coworkers published a paper with the meaningful title “A Fat to Forget” in which they show evidence that the consumption of dietary trans fatty acids (TFAs) predicted declines in memory, and that memory became worse with increased intake of trans fats (1). This is only one of the recent additions to the list of evidence of the harmful effects of TFAs on human health. However, while for years TFAs have been a well-recognised risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases and associated with all-cause mortality (2), products with high TFA levels can still be found in some markets. An extensive market basket investigation of biscuits in 20 European countries performed by Stender and co-workers showed that TFA levels in foods in Eastern Europe are much higher than in Western Europe (3). These results suggest that some population groups might still be consuming TFAs in amounts that increase their health risks.< ...