Did you know that even if your food label says “trans fat: 0 grams,” it may still contain trans fat. Yeah…seriously.
This is because, due to some extremely idiotic labeling rules, food companies only need to list trans fat content if the food contains 0.5 grams or more per serving!
So, if a food contains 0.4999 grams of trans fat in one serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on the label. Yes, it is super crazy dumb.
Even worse is the fact that many of the foods that do this then go the extra mile to print “0g Trans Fat” in big bold letters somewhere on the front of the package to really entice you to buy it.
Pretty slick, isn’t it? And then all you need to do is eat a few servings of a food like this and you will have unknowingly eaten a couple of grams of trans fat all while thinking you haven’t eaten any at all.
Luckily, there is a way to spot the foods that do this (and there are MANY of them). Check the ingredients for the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated.” If those words show up somewhere in the ingredients (typically followed by an oil of some sort), then you know that food contains some amount of trans fat no matter what lies the label tells you.
Just another reason to always read the ingredients before buying/eating an item.
Remember, margarine is trans fat. To quote the great American thinker George Carlin: “It is bullshit, and it is bad for you!”
Written by Pascal Dionot