Researchers divided the women into quartiles based on the amount of total dietary fat and types of fat (saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat) they reported consuming per day.

Variables included age, race, smoking status, physical activity, alcohol or aspirin use, body mass index, hormone therapy, heart disease history, diabetes, systolic blood pressure and whether the women took medication for high blood pressure or to reduce cholesterol, vitamin E supplementation, fruit/vegetable intake, total calories and dietary fiber.

Women in the top quartile for total fat intake had an average intake of 86 grams of total fat per day. Those in the lowest quartile consumed an average of 26 grams a day.

"I think our findings support the American Heart Association recommendations for keeping trans fat intake at less than 1 percent of energy," said Ka He, M.D., Sc.D., M.P.H., senior author of the study and associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Trans fats can be found in many foods - especially in fried foods like french fries and doughnuts, and baked goods including pastries, pie crusts, biscuits, pizza dough, cookies, crackers and stick margarines and shortenings.

Source: American Heart Association