‘0 grams trans fats’ is highly misleading on food labels
Been surprised while reading nutritional information and ingredients on food labels recently.
Since the beginning of the year, food manufacturers have been required to list on the label the amount of deadly trans fats in each serving.
But I’m discovering that foods labeled “0 grams trans fats” often do have trans fats in them. The ingredient label says so. Mentions “partially hydrogenated” oils of one kind or another.
So, “0 grams trans fats” does NOT mean zero trans fats. All it means is less than 500 milligrams of trans fats per serving. And, as supersize Americans know, very few of us eat just a “serving” of anything.
And most important to know, there is NO safe amount of man-made trans fats for human consumption. It is believed that the body can metabolize from 1 to 2 grams daily of organic trans fats found in tiny tiny amounts in vegetables, nuts, meats and so on. But there is no amount of man-made trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils or highly heated vegetable oils) that is safe for consumption. Not 1 to 2 grams. Not 500 milligrams.
To put “less than 500 milligrams” into perspective, consider this:
The federal government’s “recommended daily allowance” of Vitamin C — a nutrient essential for life and health — is only 60 milligrams for adults. That’s PER DAY.
Yet the same federal government allows food manufacturers to pack more than 8 times that much of trans fats — a deadly substance known to clog arteries– into EACH SERVING of foodstuffs and to then label the food as having “0 grams of trans fats.”
499 mg of trans fats is a pretty potent slug. And it can be cumulative. You can eat a serving (or more) of several foods at a meal that each have “0 grams trans fats” according to the label but secretly are destroying your health by pumping trans fats into your bloodstream.
Trans fat labeling is a step in the right direction. But the trans fats labels don’t necessarily help you avoid trans fats.
You still need to read the ingredient label and search for terms such as “hydrogenated oil” or “partially hydrogenated oil.”
If you see a variation of either of those, you’re getting a dose of heart-attack-and-stroke-causing trans fatty acids. Poison. Avoid those foods as if your life depended upon it.
– ken winston caine
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September 24th, 2007 06:14
If Arnold bread’s label lists “soybean” oil and not “hydrogenated” soybean oil, are they using NOT-hydgrogenated oil? Or are they misleading or lying on their labeling?
September 24th, 2007 14:22
Hi Carlton:
I would like to exaine the actual label, but don’t believe Arnold is sold in New Mexico. If all it says is “soybean oil,” then that would not be hydrogenated soybean oil.
Hope that helps,
kwc
December 20th, 2007 04:50
I would like to see a continuation of the topic