Heading into the 2016 season, Kansas City Royal's Wade Davis was the best relief pitcher around. His ERA was 0.97 in 139 1/3 innings!

But inflammation in his forearm halted his amazing performance just before the July All-Star break.

See: Inflammation can bench even the strongest of us.

If you're eating inflammation-inducing trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils found in cookies and cakes) and saturated fats (in dairy, lard and red meat), the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study — which included more than 126,000 participants — says you're risking premature death.

But you'll find great relief if you switch to healthier mono- and polyunsaturated fats (olive and canola oils, for example).

Every 2 percent increase in consumption of trans fat was associated with a 16 percent higher chance of premature death during the study period. And compared with intake of the same number of calories from carbohydrates, every 5 percent increase in saturated fat intake was associated with an 8 percent higher risk of overall mortality.

That's two strikes against you.

On the other hand, eating lots of polyunsaturated (safflower, grapeseed) and monounsaturated (olive oil) fats significantly lowered overall mortality during the study period.

Replacing just 5 percent of calories from saturated fat with calories from poly- and monounsaturated fatty acids was associated with mortality reductions of 27 percent and 13 percent, respectively.