Article: Is fat good or bad? Essential fatty acids, trans fats; diagram of cis and trans bonds.

We need some fats in our diet, but which? In this article, we look at what essential fatty acids are and why we need to consume them as food. Also includes a look at low-fat diets, and whether we should be more worried about eating too much sugar rather than too much fat. There is a description of trans fats and a simple diagram to show the difference between the cis- and trans- configurations of the carbon-carbon double bonds in fatty acids.

This is part of 'Big Picture: Fat' (www.bigpictureeducation.com/fat), which was published by the Wellcome Trust in December 2015.