Trans fats

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seventieslord
seventieslord Posts: 59 Member
in Food and Nutrition
They seemed to be pretty much phased out of packaged foods nowadays, or at least I thought. Today I was eating a small bag of Hawkins Cheezies, and I was surprised to see 2.5g of trans fat on there. I can't recall seeing more than trace amounts on a label in a long time. 2.5g is a ton! relatively speaking of course.

what are some other packaged food that make no bones about their high trans fat content on their labels and have seemingly made no attempt to change with the times?

Replies

  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,641 Member
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Just a reminder to check labels.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    Also a label may say 0 Trans Fats, but if their is partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredients list, there are Trans Fats...just not enough to be required by law to put on the label.
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,641 Member
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    Also a label may say 0 Trans Fats, but if their is partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredients list, there are Trans Fats...just not enough to be required by law to put on the label.

    <0.5g can be legally labelled as 0.

    A fairly recent study on peanut butters showed that they have at most 0.0032g trans fat/serving (in case folks were wondering as that's a common food that falls in that under 0.5g but has trans fat.
  • endoftheside
    endoftheside Posts: 568 Member
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    Restaurant food still has quite a lot of trans fat, and this is at places that bother to post nutritional information so who knows what the situation is at places that don't. Some movie theater popcorn still has it in frightening quantities. A lot of foods have just hidden it better...<0.5g plus creative serving sizes so a "normal" portion would still be up there. When I was looking at my kid's Halloween candy, quite a few had partially hydrogenated oils (Snickers for one). Girl scout cookies. Unfortunately, you can't just go by the 0 grams trans fat, you have to look for the partially hydrogenated oils on the ingredient list.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    Slightly away from Trans fats but take GM foods, here in the UK GM foods have to be labelled GM but, they do not need to mention it if for example the oil used to cook the food was GM or if the livestock was fed GM foodstuffs

    You can never completely trust labels
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,022 Member
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.

    I had noticed this, and did a little label reading, and it seems like the cookie dought that is sold in rolls for slicing are more likely to have trans fats, while the pricier ones that are already divided into spoonfuls on a tray are less likely to (maybe the fat doesn't need to be as solid at room and refrigerator temps if the dough doesn't need to hold the shape of a cylinder but can just slump down on a tray, so the fat doesn't need to be hydrogenated.)

    Sadly, my favorite microwave popcorn (Pop Secret homestyle) has trans fats, so I'm trying some other brands, and considering making my own with loose kernels and a brown paper bag.

    And my favorite pre-made pie crust from the freezer section (Marie Callenders) has trans fats. I don't use them very often (mainly for savory pies/quiches, rather than dessert pies), so I may tell myself that that's it's OK to have a couple of grams of trans fat now and then. Or now that I finally have a full-size food processor, maybe I'll look for a recipe to make my own.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,022 Member
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    Also a label may say 0 Trans Fats, but if their is partially hydrogenated oil on the ingredients list, there are Trans Fats...just not enough to be required by law to put on the label.

    <0.5g can be legally labelled as 0.

    A fairly recent study on peanut butters showed that they have at most 0.0032g trans fat/serving (in case folks were wondering as that's a common food that falls in that under 0.5g but has trans fat.

    Is that true in peanut butters that separate (that is, they have the oil floating on top and you have to stir it in), and that don't have any other fat source in them than the peanuts?
  • Rawfoodsho
    Rawfoodsho Posts: 181
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    Isn't all partially hydrogenated oil technically trans fats? I learned long ago that they lie on labels anyways and you have to read the ingredients. Just like coffee mate says 0% trans fat but it really just has under the .5% that isn't bad, but the food has 32 servings. That adds up. So coffee-mate has a good 10-15% undocumented trans fat
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    Ritz crackers has it. I haven't eaten them in many years.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
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    Isn't all partially hydrogenated oil technically trans fats? I learned long ago that they lie on labels anyways and you have to read the ingredients. Just like coffee mate says 0% trans fat but it really just has under the .5% that isn't bad, but the food has 32 servings. That adds up. So coffee-mate has a good 10-15% undocumented trans fat

    This is what I've heard and read about. Disgusting, isn't it? Partially hydrogenated ANYTHING is trans fat.

    Most pre-made baked goods from a bakery will contain it, take and bake stuff (like canned biscuits, pie crusts, crescents, canned breads, etc...) contain it, canned cake frostings have a TON of it (nearly ALL trans fat) boxed baking mixes and cakes, some brands of jarred peanut butter...and don't get me started on Crisco...I've become a sort of trans fat nazi.

    Trans fat raises your triglycerides to dangerous levels if you over do it. I cut out a good portion of it several years ago and cut my trigs nearly in half (from 147 to 75 in a year's time).

    I also completely avoid certain fast food joints due to their frying foods in trans fatty oils. Jack in the Box and Long John Silver's are tops on my list, though it's been about 2 years since I last checked. They may have made the switch and I haven't heard about it.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.
    Trans fats in meat aren't bad for you. They're actually good for you. Same with the trans fats in dairy (stearic acid specifically.) just like saturated and unsaturated fats, not all trans fats are bad for you.
  • Cheesesteak400
    Cheesesteak400 Posts: 3
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.
    Trans fats in meat aren't bad for you. They're actually good for you. Same with the trans fats in dairy (stearic acid specifically.) just like saturated and unsaturated fats, not all trans fats are bad for you.

    Stearic acid is a saturated fat, not a trans fat.
  • Rilke
    Rilke Posts: 1,201 Member
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    And my favorite pre-made pie crust from the freezer section (Marie Callenders) has trans fats. I don't use them very often (mainly for savory pies/quiches, rather than dessert pies), so I may tell myself that that's it's OK to have a couple of grams of trans fat now and then. Or now that I finally have a full-size food processor, maybe I'll look for a recipe to make my own.

    Do you live near a Trader Joe's? Their frozen pie crust is excellent, and sans trans fats.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.
    Trans fats in meat aren't bad for you. They're actually good for you. Same with the trans fats in dairy (stearic acid specifically.) just like saturated and unsaturated fats, not all trans fats are bad for you.

    Stearic acid is a saturated fat, not a trans fat.
    You're correct, I was thinking vaccenic acid. Stearic acid is a heart healthy saturated fat, vaccenic acid is a heart healthy trans fat.
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,641 Member
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    a lot of bake yourself cookies still contain trans fat, as does most fatty meat when you cook it.
    Trans fats in meat aren't bad for you. They're actually good for you. Same with the trans fats in dairy (stearic acid specifically.) just like saturated and unsaturated fats, not all trans fats are bad for you.

    Stearic acid is a saturated fat, not a trans fat.
    You're correct, I was thinking vaccenic acid. Stearic acid is a heart healthy saturated fat, vaccenic acid is a heart healthy trans fat.

    I made no judgement on good/bad, just stated existence...

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