The role of ruminant trans fat as a potential nutraceutical in the prevention of cardiovascular disease

Dietary trans fat has received increasing attention over the last few years. It is now appreciated that trans fatty acids (TFA) produced by ruminants (rTFA) via ‘a natural biohydrogenation reaction’ may have disparate health effects from those produced as a by-product of industrial processing present in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. In this review, we discuss the most recent findings from human and animal intervention studies in order to evaluate the health implications and potential mechanisms of two major rTFA (t11-vaccenic acid and c9,t11-conjugated linoleic acid) in their purified form as well as in the format of dairy fat with regard to the development of cardiovascular diseases, with the aim to assess the potential of developing rTFA as novel components for functional foods.