Interesterified Fats: The Trans-Fat Replacement

Table of Contents

1. What Interesterification Does to a Fat
2. Why It Spread After the Trans-Fat Rules
3. Foods That Carry It and What Labels Show
4. Palm and Other Starting Fats
5. Cholesterol and Blood Fats in Human Trials
6. Blood Sugar and Insulin in Human Trials
7. Liver, Inflammation and Clotting in Human Trials
8. What Animal Studies Report
9. Regulation Country by Country
10. What Is Not Known
11. Key Research Papers
12. Connections
13. Featured Videos

What Interesterification Does to a Fat

Almost every fat in food is built the same way: three fatty acids attached to a small backbone called glycerol. The result is a triglyceride. Picture a coat hanger with three hooks, two on the outside and one in the middle. Interesterification takes the fatty acids off their hooks and puts them back in a different arrangement, either on the same molecule or on a neighbouring one. A 2016 expert workshop paper describes the process as rearranging fatty acids within and between triglyceride molecules, using either a chemical catalyst or an enzyme.[1]

• Chemical interesterification: A catalyst moves the fatty acids to unplanned positions, so the outcome is a random mix. India's food standard, as reproduced in a food-compliance reference, describes alkaline catalysts such as sodium or potassium metals, or their ethoxides or hydroxides.
• Enzymatic interesterification: A fat-splitting enzyme does the moving. A 2017 review explains that this route can be random or can direct fatty acids to chosen positions.[3]
• What changes: The melting point and firmness change, because they depend partly on where each fatty acid sits. The list of fatty acids in the fat stays about the same.[2]
• What does not form: The process does not generate trans isomers. That is the main difference from partial hydrogenation, and the main reason it was adopted.[2][4]

Why the Middle Position Draws Attention

Plant fats usually carry their saturated fatty acids on the outer hooks. Animal fats carry more of them on the middle hook. Industrial interesterification of a plant fat often moves saturated fatty acids into the middle position, so the fat ends up with an arrangement that is new for a plant fat.[3] Digestive enzymes cut mainly at the outer positions, and the fatty acid in the middle tends to stay attached and be absorbed in a different form. A 2009 review reports that animal and human infant studies found fats with palmitic or stearic acid in the middle position were better digested and were considered more likely to promote artery disease, while longer studies in human adults suggested no effect on digestibility or fasting blood fats.[2]

Why It Spread After the Trans-Fat Rules

For most of the twentieth century, partial hydrogenation was the standard way to turn a liquid oil into a solid fat. It also created trans fatty acids. Research linked these to harmful changes in blood cholesterol and to heart disease. The United States Institute of Medicine and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans called for trans-fat intake to be as low as possible. The United States Food and Drug Administration made a tentative determination in 2013 that partially hydrogenated oils were not generally recognized as safe, and made it final in 2015.[1]

That left a technical problem. Without a hard fat, a biscuit or a spread has a different texture and a shorter shelf life. A 2017 review lists the alternatives as blending, fractionation (separating an oil into harder and softer parts), full hydrogenation, interesterification and genetic modification. It reports that none of these alone suits most food uses, and that interesterifying blends of fractionated or fully hydrogenated fats appeared to be the best option available to industry.[3]

Consumer behaviour played a part as well. The same review notes that labels in the United Kingdom did not separate fully hydrogenated fat, which holds no trans fat, from the partially hydrogenated kind. Shoppers turned away from both, which pushed manufacturers toward interesterified fractionated fats.[3]

A 2012 modelling study estimated what the swap would do in the United States, using national dietary recalls from 1999 to 2002. Replacing partially hydrogenated soybean oil with fully hydrogenated interesterified soybean oil in foods that need a firm fat cut trans-fat intake by 0.7% of energy, raised stearic acid intake by 1.0% of energy and lowered predicted cardiovascular risk by 1.2%. The authors state that this result rests solely on changes in blood fats and lipoproteins.[18] It is a calculation and did not follow any person eating these fats.

Foods That Carry It and What Labels Show

Where It Is Used

• Spreads and margarines: One trial report names margarines and lower-fat spreads as uses where a hard fat is essential to the product.[16]
• Baked goods: Reviews and trials name bakery products as a main use.[3][13] Researchers have baked it into muffins to test it in people and in a laboratory stomach model.[9][17]
• Confectionery: The 2017 review lists confectionery with spreads and bakery products as the commonly eaten foods.[3]
• Infant formula: A directed form of the process is used to build fats that copy the arrangement of fatty acids in breast milk. This is a separate use from hard fats for baking and spreads.[3]

Several animal papers also place these fats in ultra-processed foods as a general category.[20][22] The papers read for this page give no product-by-product list, because no labelling data exist from which to draw one.

What a Label Does and Does Not Reveal

• United Kingdom: A 2017 review states that, at that time, no legislation covered the labelling of interesterified fats, and that average intake in the United Kingdom therefore could not be estimated.[3] It adds that testing a food for interesterified fat is complex and technically challenging.
• United States: The federal ingredient-labelling rule, 21 CFR 101.4(b)(14), requires each fat or oil to be declared by name, and requires the words "hydrogenated" or "partially hydrogenated" when they apply. The word "interesterified" does not appear in that rule. A 2007 trade-press article reported that the Food and Drug Administration told one ingredient maker that the descriptor "interesterified soybean oil" can be used in an ingredient statement. That wording permits the term.
• Canada: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency states that the regulations do not specifically require "interesterification" to be declared in the common name. It encourages the name "interesterified (naming the vegetable oil)", except that a product meeting the standard for shortening must be called shortening.
• The trans-fat line: A "0 g trans fat" line says nothing about interesterification, because the process does not generate trans fat. The separate rounding rule behind that line is covered on the Trans Fats page.
• Plain oil names: Where no rule requires the word, an ingredient list that says only "palm oil", "palm kernel oil" or "vegetable fat" does not show whether the fat was interesterified. Where a package does print the word, it identifies the fat. Where the word is missing, the list settles nothing either way.

Palm and Other Starting Fats

What goes into the process matters, because the process does not change which fatty acids are present. Two families dominate the research, one rich in palmitic acid and one rich in stearic acid.

• Palm stearin with palm kernel: Palm stearin is the hard part of palm oil. A blend of 80 parts palm stearin to 20 parts palm kernel fat is described in a trial report as the most commonly consumed blend of this kind, used widely in spreads and bakery products.[13] The 2017 review says that in Europe this kind of hard stock is then mixed in varying ratios with a liquid vegetable oil, with the ratio depending on the product.[3]
• Fully hydrogenated soybean or palm oil: A 2010 review reports that the two main saturated fatty acids used for hardening come from fully hydrogenated palm oil (palmitic acid) or fully hydrogenated soybean oil (stearic acid).[6] Full hydrogenation is a separate step from partial hydrogenation. The 2017 review notes that it does not yield trans fatty acids.[3]
• Laboratory blends: Food-chemistry papers describe other starting mixtures, including soybean oil with fully hydrogenated palm oil, made with an enzyme to imitate the texture of beef tallow;[33] canola oil with fully hydrogenated cottonseed oil, made with sodium methoxide at 120 °C;[34] and perilla seed oil with palm stearin, made with an enzyme.[35] These papers measure melting, texture and stability. They did not feed the fats to people, so they say nothing about health effects.

Palm-based and soy-based fats differ in the research. A 2020 systematic review reports that swapping palmitic acid for stearic acid lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, while interesterifying either type does not seem to change fasting blood fats.[5] The 2010 review adds that it is not clear whether interesterified palmitic fats are as problematic as interesterified stearic fats, because the palmitic kind had been studied less at that time.[6]

Cholesterol and Blood Fats in Human Trials

Trials differ in what they compare. Some set an interesterified fat against the same fat before processing, which tests the process itself. Others set it against a different fat, which tests the fatty acids as well.

Weeks of Eating It

• Margarine trial, 1997: 60 healthy people ate a chemically interesterified vegetable fat blend or the same blend unprocessed, at 4% or 8% of energy, for two periods of three weeks. Of 30 measures, the only difference was about 10% lower D-dimers, a clot-breakdown product, on the interesterified blend.[11]
• Stearic-rich fat, 2007: 30 volunteers ate whole-food diets for 4 weeks on each test fat. Compared with palm olein, both an interesterified fat giving 12.5% of energy as stearic acid and a trans-rich partially hydrogenated soybean oil raised the ratio of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.[7]
• Palm olein, 2014: In a crossover feeding trial, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol was 0.3 mmol/L lower on high-oleic sunflower oil than on either palm olein or interesterified palm olein. The two palm fats were grouped together in that result.[10]
• Palmitic against stearic, 2025: 47 healthy adults completed 6 weeks on each of two interesterified fats at 10% of energy, eaten in muffins and margarine spreads. The total-to-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio did not differ (mean difference 0.05; 95% confidence interval -0.08 to 0.18). Both arms were interesterified, so this trial compares two such fats and has no unprocessed control.[9]

One Meal

Blood fats rise for hours after a fatty meal, and these meal studies give mixed answers.

• Lower rise: In 20 healthy men given 50 g of fat, interesterified palm oil lowered the rise in triglycerides and insulin compared with native palm oil.[15] In 11 men aged 40 to 70 with higher fasting triglycerides, the first 4 hours after a 75 g fat meal showed a smaller rise on interesterified palm olein (area under the curve 1.65 against 2.33 mmol/L·h), with no significant difference over the full 6 hours.[12]
• Higher rise: In 12 healthy young men given 50 g of the widely used palm stearin and palm kernel blend, the triglyceride rise over 4 hours was 51% greater with the interesterified version. Its level was falling by 4 hours while the unprocessed version was still rising.[13]
• No difference: In 20 adults aged 45 to 75 followed for 8 hours, the same blend showed no triglyceride difference with or without interesterification. Both versions gave smaller low-density lipoprotein particles and more large very-low-density particles at 6 to 8 hours than rapeseed oil, the comparison oil. The authors attribute this to the saturated fat content, because interesterification itself changed nothing.[14]
• A spread in a mixed meal: In 50 healthy adults, an interesterified palm-based spread gave similar 8-hour triglyceride results to a non-interesterified spread, spreadable butter and rapeseed oil.[16]

A 2020 systematic review concluded that interesterifying palmitic or stearic fats does not seem to affect fasting blood fats, and that the rise after a meal is smaller when a blend has more solid fat at body temperature.[5] A laboratory stomach model points the same way: in muffins, the hard fats stayed bound to the crumb and delayed stomach emptying, and interesterification itself did not alter digestibility.[17]

Blood Sugar and Insulin in Human Trials

Blood sugar results drew attention after one 2007 trial. Later trials did not find the same result, though their fats, doses and ways of giving the fat differed.

• The 2007 alarm: After 4 weeks on the stearic-rich interesterified fat, fasting blood sugar was almost 20% higher and fasting insulin 22% lower than on palm olein. In 19 participants given a meal with 53 g of test fat, the blood sugar rise was 40% greater than after the other meals, with relatively depressed insulin and C-peptide, a marker of insulin release.[7]
• Interesterified palm olein, 2014: 53 healthy Asian men and women exchanged 20% of energy for 6 weeks per diet. Insulin release, measured by C-peptide, did not differ among palm olein, interesterified palm olein and high-oleic sunflower oil (P = 0.58). Blood sugar at 2 hours was 8% lower on the interesterified fat. Results are from 41 completers.[10]
• Overweight adults, 2018: 85 healthy overweight adults ate snacks made with interesterified palm olein, an interesterified stearic-rich blend or natural palm olein for 8 weeks. Markers of insulin resistance did not differ. The change in blood triglycerides was significantly lower on the stearic-rich blend. Changes in the hormone leptin and in body-fat percentage were significantly lower on natural palm olein than on interesterified palm olein.[8]
• Palmitic against stearic, 2025: Insulin sensitivity showed no difference between the two interesterified fats over 6 weeks.[9]
• Single meals: In the 12-man palm stearin study, glucose and insulin did not differ between interesterified and unprocessed fat, while fullness was higher after the unprocessed fat.[13]

The trials used different fats and different doses. The 2007 trial used a stearic-rich fat at a high intake. A 2010 review argues that intake levels of 8% to 12% of energy as interesterified stearic acid show the most effect, against about 2% to 4% of energy from stearic acid in a typical diet. It also argues that trials delivering the fat in a single snack or meal are less likely to reveal an effect than diets using it at every meal.[6] The 2018 trial delivered its fats as daily snacks.[8]

Liver, Inflammation and Clotting in Human Trials

• Liver fat: The 2025 crossover trial measured fasting liver fat by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in a subgroup. It found no difference between palmitic-rich and stearic-rich interesterified fats after 6 weeks.[9] Both arms were interesterified, so this does not show what the same people would have had on an unprocessed fat. The 2010 review lists liver enzymes among the measures that it says were affected in studies feeding high intakes.[6]
• Inflammation: In the same trial, interleukin-10, a signalling protein that calms inflammation, fell after the palmitic-rich fat relative to the stearic-rich fat (-0.14 ng/L; 95% confidence interval -0.23 to -0.06). Other inflammation markers did not differ.[9] After single meals, interleukin-6 rose similarly with every test fat, and the interesterified spread did not differ from the other two spreads. Rapeseed oil produced a greater rise in glycoprotein acetyls and in an 8-hour marker of bacterial products entering the blood.[16]
• Blood vessel function: Flow-mediated dilatation, a measure of how well an artery widens, did not differ among the test meals over 8 hours.[16]
• Clotting: Activated factor VII, a clotting protein, rose 21% after native palm oil and 19% after interesterified palm oil at 6 hours. Compared with high-oleic sunflower oil, interesterified palm oil reduced that rise by 64%.[15] White blood cell counts rose by an average of 26% at 6 hours after all three meals.[15]

What Animal Studies Report

Every result in this section comes from mice or rats. Animal feeding studies use diets built around the test fat, and rodents handle fat differently from people. Their findings raise questions and do not show what happens in humans.

Blood Sugar and Insulin in Mice

• In male Swiss mice fed for 8 weeks, a normal-fat diet with interesterified palm oil gave higher body mass, high blood sugar, impaired glucose tolerance and signs of insulin resistance compared with ordinary palm oil, with results close to those of the high-fat groups.[19]
• Another 8-week study in Swiss mice found greater glucose intolerance on interesterified palm oil diets, lower insulin signalling in muscle and liver, and higher insulin release from isolated pancreatic islets. Body mass and fat did not differ in this study, unlike the one above.[20]
• In C57BL/6 mice on a high-fat diet for 8 weeks, interesterified palm oil gave 11% higher body mass than lard, with raised interleukin-6, insulin and an insulin-resistance score. Fatty liver appeared in both the palm oil and interesterified palm oil groups.[21]
• Two mouse studies report that palm oil and interesterified palm oil both turned brown fat, which burns energy, toward a white-fat pattern.[22][23]

Liver, Arteries and Gut in Mice

• In male mice lacking the low-density lipoprotein receptor, a strain bred to study high cholesterol, 16 weeks on a high-fat diet with either interesterified fat increased liver collagen. The stearic version led to fatty liver with inflammation (steatohepatitis), and the palmitic version led to liver scarring and enlarged fat cells.[24]
• In the same strain, an interesterified palmitic fat produced larger artery lesions than palmitic, stearic, interesterified stearic or polyunsaturated fat. Plasma lipid levels did not change with interesterification, so the artery findings in these mice did not track their blood lipid levels.[25]
• In male Swiss mice, interesterified fat at normal dietary levels was linked to a damaged gut lining, greater gut permeability, and bacteria reaching the blood, liver and lungs.[26]
• In C57BL/6 mice fed interesterified palm oil for ten weeks together with the pollutant PCB-126, liver changes included inflammatory cells and fibrosis. Each exposure on its own also affected metabolism and fatty liver progression.[27]

Offspring of Mice and Rats

Several studies fed the mother during pregnancy and nursing and then examined the young. All of these compare fats within normal-fat diets or against soybean oil.

• Offspring of mice fed interesterified fat or palm oil gained more weight than those of control or trans-fat mice during the first 10 weeks after weaning, and the interesterified group had the greatest total fat volume.[28]
• Mouse offspring of mothers fed interesterified fat had a 20% increase in plasma glucose, a 2-fold increase in triglycerides, and mitochondrial calcium retention in the liver reduced by approximately 55%. For the trans-fat group, the figures were a 1.9-fold rise in triglycerides and approximately 40% lower retention.[29]
• Adult male mouse offspring showed more white blood cells rolling along small brain vessels after maternal trans fat, palm oil or interesterified fat.[30]
• In rat offspring of mothers fed palm, interesterified or trans fats, insulin injected into the brain no longer reduced 24-hour feeding as it did in controls.[31]
• In rats fed interesterified fat from gestation into adulthood, the young showed impaired motor learning, the adults moved less, and dopamine-related targets in the brain were lower than in rats given soybean oil.[32]

Many of these rodent studies come from a small number of research groups, and several also found harm from unprocessed palm oil. That makes it hard to separate the effect of the process from the effect of the saturated fat.

Regulation Country by Country

The rules found for this page target trans fat. None of the sources read sets a limit on interesterified fat itself.

• United States: The Food and Drug Administration finalized its determination on partially hydrogenated oils in 2015.[1] Later compliance dates are listed on the Trans Fats page. The ingredient rule above names hydrogenation and does not name interesterification.
• European Union: Regulation (EU) 2019/649 caps trans fat, other than the kind naturally found in animal fat, at 2 grams per 100 grams of fat in food for consumers and for retail. Food that did not comply could stay on the market until 1 April 2021. The limit concerns trans fat only, so an interesterified fat low in trans fat falls outside it.
• United Kingdom: The 2017 review reports no legal requirement to label interesterified fats, and a requirement to label hydrogenated fats that does not distinguish fully from partially hydrogenated.[3]
• Canada: Declaring interesterification in the common name is encouraged but not specifically required, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
• India: Food standards there define the product as an edible fat treated to rearrange fatty acid positions, changing properties such as melting point, with very little change in the fatty acids themselves, according to a food-compliance reference. That text gives no trans-fat limit or label rule for it.

What Is Not Known

• Long-term effects: The 2016 workshop paper calls the long-term health implications less well understood.[1] The authors of the 2025 trial state that long-term effects could not be determined from their 6-week study.[9] The longest feeding trial cited on this page ran 8 weeks.[8]
• Disease outcomes: The human papers read here measure blood markers. None of them counts heart attacks, strokes, diabetes diagnoses or deaths in people eating interesterified fat.
• How much people eat: With no labelling rule, the 2017 review reports that average intake in the United Kingdom was unavailable.[3] The United States figure above is a model.[18]
• Whether tested fats match real food: The 2017 review says earlier studies seldom used industrially relevant fats.[3] Trials since then have tested commercial blends.[9][14][16]
• Open questions named by the experts: The 2016 workshop listed lipid and glucose metabolism, inflammatory responses, hemostasis and fullness.[1] The 2020 systematic review says effects on cardiometabolic markers other than fasting blood fats need further investigation.[5]
• How to read the disagreement: A 2010 review argues that adverse effects are likely to begin below the level at which they can be detected, and that more research is warranted before the fat becomes embedded in the food supply, as trans fat did.[6] That is the authors' reasoning from the pattern of past trans-fat findings. It is not a measured result.
• Who was tested: Most trials enrolled healthy adults. Results for people with diabetes, fatty liver or existing heart disease, and for children, were not reported in these papers.
• Who ran the research: Affiliations and disclosures in the abstracts and records show ties to the Malaysian Palm Oil Board on the 2007 and 2018 trials through author affiliation, and on the 2025 trial through reported financial support to one author. The 2025 record also lists an author employed in the food-ingredient industry.[7][8][9]

Decisions about diet and health conditions belong with a clinician, who can weigh these findings for an individual person.

Key Research Papers

1. Mensink RP, Sanders TA, Baer DJ, Hayes KC, Howles PN, Marangoni A. The Increasing Use of Interesterified Lipids in the Food Supply and Their Effects on Health Parameters. Adv Nutr. 2016;7(4):719-29. PubMed PMID: 27422506
2. Berry SE. Triacylglycerol structure and interesterification of palmitic and stearic acid-rich fats: an overview and implications for cardiovascular disease. Nutr Res Rev. 2009;22(1):3-17. PubMed PMID: 19442321
3. Mills CE, Hall WL, Berry SEE. What are interesterified fats and should we be worried about them in our diet? Nutr Bull. 2017;42(2):153-158. PubMed PMID: 28729812
4. Alfieri A, Imperlini E, Nigro E, Vitucci D, Orrù S, Daniele A, Buono P, Mancini A. Effects of Plant Oil Interesterified Triacylglycerols on Lipemia and Human Health. Int J Mol Sci. 2017;19(1):104. PubMed PMID: 29301208
5. van Rooijen MA, Mensink RP. Palmitic Acid Versus Stearic Acid: Effects of Interesterification and Intakes on Cardiometabolic Risk Markers - A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2020;12(3):615. PubMed PMID: 32111040
6. Hayes KC, Pronczuk A. Replacing trans fat: the argument for palm oil with a cautionary note on interesterification. J Am Coll Nutr. 2010;29(3 Suppl):253S-284S. PubMed PMID: 20823487
7. Sundram K, Karupaiah T, Hayes KC. Stearic acid-rich interesterified fat and trans-rich fat raise the LDL/HDL ratio and plasma glucose relative to palm olein in humans. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2007;4:3. PubMed PMID: 17224066
8. Ng YT, Voon PT, Ng TKW, Lee VKM, Mat Sahri M, Mohd Esa N, Ong SH, Ong ASH. Interesterified Palm Olein (IEPalm) and Interesterified Stearic Acid-Rich Fat Blend (IEStear) Have No Adverse Effects on Insulin Resistance: A Randomized Control Trial. Nutrients. 2018;10(8):1112. PubMed PMID: 30126103
9. Hall WL, Wood E, Joris PJ, Smith HA, Creedon A, Maher T, Bruce JH, Mensink RP, Berry SE. The effects of consumption of interesterified fats rich in palmitic acid compared with stearic acid on intermediary markers of cardiometabolic disease risk: a randomized controlled trial in healthy adults. Am J Clin Nutr. 2025;122(5):1361-1373. PubMed PMID: 40975239
10. Filippou A, Teng KT, Berry SE, Sanders TA. Palmitic acid in the sn-2 position of dietary triacylglycerols does not affect insulin secretion or glucose homeostasis in healthy men and women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2014;68(9):1036-41. PubMed PMID: 25052227
11. Meijer GW, Weststrate JA. Interesterification of fats in margarine: effect on blood lipids, blood enzymes, and hemostasis parameters. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1997;51(8):527-34. PubMed PMID: 11248878
12. Hall WL, Brito MF, Huang J, Wood LV, Filippou A, Sanders TA, Berry SE. An interesterified palm olein test meal decreases early-phase postprandial lipemia compared to palm olein: a randomized controlled trial. Lipids. 2014;49(9):895-904. PubMed PMID: 25103522
13. Hall WL, Iqbal S, Li H, Gray R, Berry SEE. Modulation of postprandial lipaemia by a single meal containing a commonly consumed interesterified palmitic acid-rich fat blend compared to a non-interesterified equivalent. Eur J Nutr. 2017;56(8):2487-2495. PubMed PMID: 27511058
14. Mills CE, Harding SV, Bapir M, Mandalari G, Salt LJ, Gray R, Fielding BA, Wilde PJ, Hall WL, Berry SE. Palmitic acid-rich oils with and without interesterification lower postprandial lipemia and increase atherogenic lipoproteins compared with a MUFA-rich oil: A randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;113(5):1221-1231. PubMed PMID: 33675343
15. Berry SE, Woodward R, Yeoh C, Miller GJ, Sanders TA. Effect of interesterification of palmitic acid-rich triacylglycerol on postprandial lipid and factor VII response. Lipids. 2007;42(4):315-23. PubMed PMID: 17406926
16. Hall WL, Alkoblan A, Gibson PS, D'Annibale M, Coekaerts A, Bauer M, Bruce JH, Lecomte B, Penhoat A, Laugerette F, Michalski MC, Salt LJ, Wilde PJ, Berry SE. Postprandial lipid and vascular responses following consumption of a commercially-relevant interesterified palmitic acid-rich spread in comparison to functionally-equivalent non-interesterified spread and spreadable butter: a randomised controlled trial in healthy adults. Food Funct. 2024;15(5):2733-2750. PubMed PMID: 38380649
17. Salt LJ, Mandalari G, Parker ML, Hussein M, Mills CE, Gray R, Berry SE, Hall W, Wilde PJ. Mechanisms of interesterified fat digestibility in a muffin matrix using a dynamic gastric model. Food Funct. 2023;14(22):10232-10239. PubMed PMID: 37916919
18. Lefevre M, Mensink RP, Kris-Etherton PM, Petersen B, Smith K, Flickinger BD. Predicted changes in fatty acid intakes, plasma lipids, and cardiovascular disease risk following replacement of trans fatty acid-containing soybean oil with application-appropriate alternatives. Lipids. 2012;47(10):951-62. PubMed PMID: 22903557
19. Miyamoto JÉ, Reginato A, Portovedo M, Dos Santos RM, Stahl MA, Le Stunff H, Latorraca MQ, de Barros Reis MA, Arantes VC, Doneda DL, Ignacio-Souza LM, Torsoni AS, Grimaldi R, Ribeiro APB, Torsoni MA, Milanski M. Interesterified palm oil impairs glucose homeostasis and induces deleterious effects in liver of Swiss mice. Metabolism. 2020;112:154350. PubMed PMID: 32910938
20. Dos Santos RM, Miyamoto JÉ, Siqueira BP, Araujo TR, Vettorazzi JF, Menta PLR, Denom J, Latorraca MQ, Cruciani-Guglielmacci C, Carneiro EM, Torsoni A, Torsoni M, Badan AP, Magnan C, Le Stunff H, Ignácio-Souza L, Milanski M. Interesterified palm oil promotes insulin resistance and altered insulin secretion and signaling in Swiss mice. Food Res Int. 2024;177:113850. PubMed PMID: 38225125
21. Martins BC, da Silva Ribeiro M, Teixeira AVS, Peixoto TC, Lisboa PC, Martins FF, Souza-Mello V, Daleprane JB. Consumption of interesterified palm oil leads inflammation of white adipose tissue and triggers metabolic disturbances in mice on a high-fat diet. Sci Rep. 2024;14(1):12530. PubMed PMID: 38822155
22. Martins BC, Miranda CS, Ribeiro MDS, Teixeira AVS, Peixoto TC, Lisboa PC, Resende AC, Barros Mucci D, Martins FF, Souza-Mello V, Daleprane JB. Interesterified palm oil consumption drives brown adipose tissue whitening and functional impairment in high-fat diet mice. Br J Nutr. 2026;135(2):136-148. PubMed PMID: 41267503
23. Peixoto TC, Quitete FT, Teixeira AVS, Martins BC, Soares RA, Atella GC, Bertasso IM, Lisboa PC, Resende AC, Mucci DB, Souza-Mello V, Martins FF, Daleprane JB. Palm and interesterified palm oil-enhanced brown fat whitening contributes to metabolic dysfunction in C57BL/6J mice. Nutr Res. 2025;133:94-107. PubMed PMID: 39705913
24. Lavrador MSF, Afonso MS, Cintra DE, Koike M, Nunes VS, Demasi M, Lin CJ, Beda LMM, Gioielli LA, Bombo RPA, Machado RM, Catanozi S, Nakandakare ER, Lottenberg AM. Interesterified Fats Induce Deleterious Effects on Adipose Tissue and Liver in LDLr-KO Mice. Nutrients. 2019;11(2):466. PubMed PMID: 30813339
25. Afonso MS, Lavrador MS, Koike MK, Cintra DE, Ferreira FD, Nunes VS, Castilho G, Gioielli LA, Paula Bombo R, Catanozi S, Caldini EG, Damaceno-Rodrigues NR, Passarelli M, Nakandakare ER, Lottenberg AM. Dietary interesterified fat enriched with palmitic acid induces atherosclerosis by impairing macrophage cholesterol efflux and eliciting inflammation. J Nutr Biochem. 2016;32:91-100. Erratum in J Nutr Biochem. 2016;36:89-90. PubMed PMID: 27142741
26. Menta PLR, Andrade MER, de Castro LF, Trindade LM, Dias MTS, Miyamoto JÉ, Dos Santos RM, Cassali GD, Leal RF, Ribeiro APB, Grimaldi R, Ignacio-Souza LM, Torsoni MA, Torsoni AS, Cardoso VN, Milanski M. Interesterified palm oil increases intestinal permeability, promotes bacterial translocation, alters inflammatory parameters and tight-junction protein genic expression in Swiss mice. Food Res Int. 2022;151:110897. PubMed PMID: 34980418
27. Teixeira AVS, Quitete FT, Martins BC, Peixoto TC, Ribeiro MDS, Velasco PC, Miranda C, Resende AC, Costa DC, Atella GC, Mucci DB, Souza-Mello V, Martins FF, Daleprane JB. Metabolic consequences of interesterified palm oil and PCB-126 co-exposure in C57BL/6 mice. Food Chem Toxicol. 2024;192:114965. PubMed PMID: 39197524
28. Magri TP, Fernandes FS, Souza AS, Langhi LG, Barboza T, Misan V, Mucci DB, Santos RM, Nunes TF, Souza SA, de Mello Coelho V, Tavares do Carmo Md. Interesterified fat or palm oil as substitutes for partially hydrogenated fat in maternal diet can predispose obesity in adult male offspring. Clin Nutr. 2015;34(5):904-10. PubMed PMID: 25444555
29. de Velasco PC, Chicaybam G, Ramos-Filho DM, Dos Santos RMAR, Mairink C, Sardinha FLC, El-Bacha T, Galina A, Tavares-do-Carmo MDG. Maternal intake of trans-unsaturated or interesterified fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation modifies mitochondrial bioenergetics in the liver of adult offspring in mice. Br J Nutr. 2017;118(1):41-52. PubMed PMID: 28797310
30. Misan V, Estato V, de Velasco PC, Spreafico FB, Magri T, Dos Santos RM, Fragoso T, Souza AS, Boldarine VT, Bonomo IT, Sardinha FL, Oyama LM, Tibiriçá E, Tavares do Carmo Md. Interesterified fat or palm oil as substitutes for partially hydrogenated fat during the perinatal period produces changes in the brain fatty acids profile and increases leukocyte-endothelial interactions in the cerebral microcirculation from the male offspring in adult life. Brain Res. 2015;1616:123-33. PubMed PMID: 25982597
31. Bispo KP, de Oliveira Rodrigues L, da Silva Soares de Souza É, Mucci D, Tavares do Carmo Md, de Albuquerque KT, de Carvalho Sardinha FL. Trans and interesterified fat and palm oil during the pregnancy and lactation period inhibit the central anorexigenic action of insulin in adult male rat offspring. J Physiol Sci. 2015;65(1):131-8. PubMed PMID: 25398547
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PubMed Topic Searches

1. Interesterified fat, randomized trials
2. Interesterified palm oil, mouse studies
3. Interesterification as a trans-fat replacement

Connections

• Processed Seed Oils
• Trans Fats
• Seed Oils
• Ultra-Processed Foods
• Tocotrienols (Palm Oil)
• Pork Lard Rendering
• Insulin Resistance
• Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
• Cholesterol Management

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