Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is a leading cause of mortality in the United States. There is substantial evidence that a sustained intake of industrially-produced trans fatty acids (IP-TFA) is associated with increased risk of fatal IHD. This has led many regulatory agencies to pressure dietary oil producers to remove IP-TFA from their products. That this has resulted in lower blood levels of IP-TFA in the United States is clear, but whether this has been accompanied by a reduction in the incidence of fatal IHD is unknown. To test the hypothesis that declining IP-TFA levels are associated with declining rates of fatal IHD, we compared the IP-TFA levels in red blood cells (RBC) analyzed in our laboratory between 2009 and 2016 (n = 53 194) with yearly US-specific IHD mortality rates. We found that decreasing RBC IP-TFA levels were strongly correlated with decreasing rates of fatal IHD (R2 = 0.9552, P < .0001). Recognizing the limitations of observational studies in addressing causation questions, our findings nevertheless support our hypothesis and suggest that efforts to remove IP-TFA from the food supply in the United States may be having the desired effect.

中文翻译：

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红细胞反式脂肪酸和美国致命性缺血性心脏病发病率平行下降

缺血性心脏病 (IHD) 是美国死亡的主要原因。有大量证据表明，持续摄入工业生产的反式脂肪酸 (IP-TFA) 与致命性 IHD 的风险增加有关。这导致许多监管机构向食用油生产商施压，要求从其产品中去除 IP-TFA。这导致美国 IP-TFA 血液水平降低是显而易见的，但这是否伴随着致命 IHD 发生率的降低尚不清楚。为了验证 IP-TFA 水平下降与致命性 IHD 发病率下降相关的假设，我们将 2009 年至 2016 年（n = 53 194）在我们实验室分析的红细胞 (RBC) 中的 IP-TFA 水平与每年的美国- 特定 IHD 死亡率。我们发现，红细胞 IP-TFA 水平的降低与致死性 IHD 的降低率密切相关（R2 = 0.9552，P < .0001）。认识到观察性研究在解决因果关系问题方面的局限性，我们的研究结果仍然支持我们的假设，并表明从美国食品供应中去除 IP-TFA 的努力可能会产生预期的效果。