Washington, March 14 (IANS) Dietary trans fatty acids (dTFAs) may enhance taste but can leave you more irritable and belligerent, according to a new study.

Based on a survey of 945 men and women, it provides the first evidence linking dTFAs with adverse behaviour that impacted others, ranging from impatience to overt aggression.

Dietary trans fatty acids are primarily products of hydrogenation, which makes unsaturated oils solid at room temperature, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

Adverse health effects of dTFAs have been identified in lipid levels, metabolic function, insulin resistance, oxidation, inflammation and cardiac health, according to a university statement.

The team led by Beatrice Golomb, associate professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, used baseline dietary information of participants to analyse the relationship between dTFAs and aggression or irritability.

"We found that greater trans fatty acids were significantly associated with greater aggression, and were more consistently predictive of aggression and irritability, across the measures tested, than the other known aggression predictors that were assessed," said Golomb.