Biochemistry for life

         You may have heard from many health magazines that trans-fats are really bad for human health. But have you wondered why this might be the case? What is it about the trans-fats that make them so bad that health magazines basically view them as the biggest villain of all the time? The answer lies in their chemical structure and how our bodies react to them.  So what are trans-fats? Trans-fats are saturated fatty acids that contain a double bond in the trans (opposite) arrangement. Therefore this type of fat is known to have a ‘kink’ in them (1). Please refer to the image below to understand the difference between cis versus trans saturated fats.  Image citation link: https://www.nutrientsreview.com/lipids/trans-fats.html The image shows us that a simple difference in the placement of hydrogen atoms makes trans fat an unhealthy type of fat when compared to cis-saturated fat. As the central theme of biochemistry dictates that structure determines function, what seems to be a mi