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09 May 2010 19:21
What people don’t get about trans fat is that many of the products that have been villainized due to trans fat content, such as regular peanut butter, have always contained less than one gram of trans fat per serving. Some of them, in fact, may have always contained less than 0.5 grams of trans fatty-acids per serving.
If Trans Fats are So Bad, Why is this important?
Well, since the recent hysteria involving the unhealthfullness of trans fatty acids food labels have undergone a major change.
Yes, some foods have changed too but mostly just the labels. Yep. That's right. Did you think all the products that have suddenly become "trans fat free" changed their ingredients?
You see, many of the products that proclaim ZERO GRAMS TRANS FAT on the front label actually still contain trans fats.
If you want to be sure, check the ingredients. If it contains “partially hydrogenated oil" or any type of hydrogenated oils then it contains trans fatty acids.
Many, including myself, have made a mistake in reporting that labels can claim zero grams of trans fats if they contain less than one gram and in reporting this as a "new government loophole" In fact the requirement is LESS THAN .5 GRAMS.
The nature of this requirement has been unjustifiably maligned by many, including myself, by reporting this requirement as if it is new and unique to trans fat when if fact it is the general rule concerning FATS.
Manufactures must report fat content to the NEAREST .5 GRAMS. Therefore foods containing less than .5 grams can claim zero grams. It would have been ridiculous for the FDA to completely revise it's labeling regulations in order for trans fat to be included on nutrition facts panels.
The trans fat hysteria has caused many people to fall into traps based on certain foods that have been villainized unnecessarily as opposed to other even less healthy foods that are considered good alternatives.
I noticed a thread not too long ago on a bodybuilding board that exemplifies this.
Many of the bodybuilding types are going on and on about natural peanut butter. It’s natty PB this and natty PB that. Regular peanut butter is a villain in the food industry. Don’t worry though, natural peanut butter to the rescue. Also to the rescue of the peanut butter makers since a whole new market has opened up.
image via wikimedia
And there is the added advantage to that handy food labeling term, “natural”.
Now the same public which refused to deal with natural peanut butter in the past is willing to sprain their wrists mixing in the separated oil while it sloshes down the side of the jar. Only to have it separate again.
They are willing to have this barely mixed concoction tear their bread to shreds while they make up their PB & J’s.
Better buy natural peanut butter and deal with it. It’s healthy. Good thing for the food industry that the general public is largely unaware of the dangers of rancid oils. They are also unaware that trans fats were not only added to peanut butter to keep the fats from separating and to give it a creamy consistency…it was also there to extend the shelf life.
Natural peanut butter should be kept in the refrigerator. Where it will become as hard as a rock.
But here is the thing you may not realize. Many regular peanut butter brands, under the trans fat labelling requirments, could have always called itself “trans fat free”!
But regular peanut butter makers are not, at least that I have seen, proclaiming their peanut butter to be trans fat free. Probably because peanut butter has been made an example of so much that the cat is out of the bag. No problem, just enter the new market.
Guess what product does proclaim itself to be trans fat free. It’s a product that unlike peanut butter, doesn’t simply use trans fat as and additive but owes it’s very existence to partially hydrogenated oils.
This product is “non dairy toppings” or Coolwhip® .
However, I’m not trying to malign Cool Whip here I’m just trying to make a point because of this bodybuilding forum thread I mentioned.
In this tread someone posted a recipe using two bodybuilder favorites: natural peanut butter and protein powder.
You are supposed to mix the natty peanut butter with the protein powder to make a very tasty spread.
It starts out explaining how the fats in natural peanut butter are supposed to be better for you and all that. Never mind that both natural and regular peanut butter contain the same fats only regular has a little trans fat added…the point is natty is supposed to be better for you.
Ooops. Natty peanut butter doesn’t mix too well with protein powder.
No problem. Just add two big spoonfuls of Cool Whip!
No, wait, make that Lite Cool Whip.
I’ll let you look up the ingredients in that…
So, anyway, you get it, right? You understand the irony here.
Yet when I pointed out the obvious contradiction, the members tried to defend the non dairy topping over regular peanut butter! Yet regular peanut butter would have mixed easily and would have made a product that was ultimately “less processed” but having a fairly similar trans fat content. Not to mention the new peanut butters with palm oil added which would have worked as well (yes, I DID mention this but Palm oil is a whole nother problem since it is so darned Un-Eco friendly in terms of big food).
It becomes more and more clear that people are simply unaware of what they are eating and simply glom on to the current fads concerning bad foods and good foods.
Check out Tom Venuto’s article Trans Fatty Acids: The Poison in Our Food Supply. I think Tom is a bit sensational for my taste on this particular subject since trans fat are but one part of a huge iceberg of problems with oils in our diets. But the information is great and it is well worth the read to get the low-down on what we are looking at with trans fatty acids.
For much more information on labeling regulations and to learn how to read and understand food labels, see How to Read Food Labels.
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