How to Identify and Avoid Trans Fats in Foods
(Part 3 of a series on trans fats)

by Heidi Stevenson

10 January 2010

Now that you know what trans fats are, what they do to your body, and the range of diseases they cause, the only question is how to avoid them. In modern life, it can be a bit difficult to avoid trans fats. You have two choices. One is to eat only fresh and organic foods prepared from scratch. Your other option is to learn how to read labels—and then do so before buying any food.

The first choice, preparing all your food from fresh and natural ingredients that haven't been processed, is self-explanatory—and not something that most people are prepared to do. So, this article focuses on how to select foods without trans fats.

Label Reading

The first rule is to read labels on food packages—very carefully. If you see the term trans fat, put the item back. That's obvious. However, do not assume that it's okay just because trans fat isn't listed. There are many ways it's hidden. Remember, there is no safe amount; even the tiniest fraction of trans fat can be harmful.

The terms hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated mean one thing: trans fat. So does trans fatty acid. When you see these terms, put the package back.

Vegetable oils in supermarkets are partially hydrogenated. They have to be or they'll go rancid quickly. Avoid all vegetable oils, even if the labels do not include the terms trans fat or hydrogenated. Making the situation even more dire, note that most of them are now made from genetically engineered plants.

Nutrition label information is not where you should focus. Claims of 0% trans fats are often made, when the reality is far different. In the U.S. the claim can be made when there's less than 1/2 gram per serving. Since trans fats are measured in single-digit grams, a half gram in one serving, added to another half in another, and so forth, can quickly add up to a significant portion of trans fats.

There are even sneakier tricks for hiding trans fats. One is to separate the different kinds of fats into individual ingredients. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats may be listed separately, giving the impression that neither is a trans fat. If you've been reading this series, you know that's not true!

If you see the word hydrogenate in any conjugation—hydrogenated, hydrogenation, or any other cute twist the industry comes up with—anywhere on the label, you can safely assume that it contains trans fats.

Sneaky Trans Fats

Food producers have gotten quite clever at hiding the poisons in their products, and trans fats are no exception. The most egregious example are monoglyceride and diglyceride, which are manufactured—not grown—products that contain trans fatty acids. However, for product labeling, they are not classified as fats. So manufacturers can state on labels that there are no trans fats, in spite of containing one or both of these products. They're used as emulsifiers, so are frequently found in foods that we want to be smooth, such as puddings and sauces.

Foods Particularly Heavy in Trans Fats

Anything deep-fat fried will be very heavy in trans fats, unless it's been fried in a naturally saturated fat, like lard—which is not something you're likely to find in a supermarket. Thus, crisps, chips, fries, doughnuts, poppadoms—all are loaded with trans fats. Other foods to be wary of include:

• Baked goods
• Breakfast cereals
• Bread & crackers
• Fish sticks and other breaded fish
• Frozen pizzas & pot pies
• "Health" bars
• Margarine
• Microwave popcorn (one of the worst)
• Nondairy creamers (known as lighteners in the UK)
• Peanut butter
• Puddings (trans fats used for creamy consistency)
• Ramen noodles
• Sauces
• Shortening
• Tortillas (more often known as wraps in the UK)
• Cake mixes

This list is, of course, far from exhaustive. It should, though, give you a good idea of what foods to be particularly careful about.

Places You Wouldn't Expect to Find Trans Fats

Peanut butter is very tricky. The simplest way to identify whether it's hydrogenated is to look at it. It's simple to see. If the peanut butter is not separated, so that the oil is on top, don't give it to your children. The only way to make peanut butter so the oil doesn't separate is by hydrogenation. When the oil would naturally separate in a food, it should not be purchased if it stays mixed.

Noodles are not a place where you'd expect to find problems, and normally it isn't an issue. However, there is one exception: ramen noodles. They are often particularly high in trans fats.

Breakfast cereals seem an unlikely source of trans fats, since they're not noted for having fats at all. Sadly, though, they do, and often in high quantities. This is a product whose labels you need to scrutinize very carefully.

There is one more arena in which you need to look for trans fats—eating out. Here it's even more difficult than when food shopping, since ingredients are rarely listed in restaurants. There are, though, some tips to help. First, avoid deep-fat fried foods. The oils used are nearly always trans fats, and even when they aren't, the high heat renders them harmful. Of course, you should avoid all fast food restaurants, since their stock in trade is processed foods.

Eat only foods that were prepared from fresh products in the restaurant and are uncooked. If the foods are cooked, the odds are that trans fat-laden oils are used.

Ask that foods be prepared only with naturally saturated fats, cold-pressed nut or olive oils, or palm oil (which is saturated). Eat at restaurants that use no prepared foods and ask if any are used in what you order.

And Then, There Is Interesterified Fat

Naturally, since trans fats are coming under increasing scrutiny, the food biz has come up with yet another twist on the theme. Now there's interesterified fat. It hasn't been around very long, so negative effects are still not known. However, the food industry's track record shouldn't make you comfortable. To make matters worse, the term, interesterified, is rarely even placed on a label. Instead, you'll see "high stearate", "stearic rich", or "fully hydrogenated". Those terms are already common on labels—and they're often found on ones that include the words, "no trans fats" or "0% trans fats".

When it comes to this new sort of fat, take a piece of the word to remember: Interesterified fats should make you terrified.

Best of all is to avoid all processed foods. If you can't, then start reading labels. It will take little time before you know which products to avoid. What will likely be most startling is how few do not have these poisons.

Why Hydrogenated Fat Is So Bad (Part 1) is the first of this series. It explains what hydrogenated fat is and what makes it so dangerous.

Risks of Hydrogenated Fats (Part 2) continues with a discussion of the types of diseases trans fats can cause.