hydrogenated oil = trans fat?

November 29, 2005 4:12 PM

So partially hydrogenated oil is pretty much trans-fat, correct? How is it then, that nutrition labels for products containing hydrogenated oils often state that they have 0 grams of trans fat? Am I just confused?
posted by worstkidever to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I've seen this two and been confused. My only guess is that it has below a certain amount per serving, but really I'm just posting to say you're not the only one who's noticed this discrepancy.
posted by dagnyscott at 4:17 PM on November 29, 2005

Best answer: "However, the labeling regulations will allow trans fat levels of less than .5 grams per serving to be labeled as 0 grams per serving, or trans fat free. Synonyms for "free" include "without," "no" and "zero," according to the regulation."
posted by Rothko at 4:21 PM on November 29, 2005

Yup. The trick is "per serving". If you define a "serving" as ridiculously small enough, you can still claim none, even though a bag of whatever may contain many many grams of trans fats.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 4:25 PM on November 29, 2005

Oh, also look out nowadays for TBHQ -- it's being used to preserve vegetable oils instead of by hydrogenation, since hydrogenation is now gaining visibility as a Bad Thing. Nobody yet knows if it'll turn out to be worse.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 4:27 PM on November 29, 2005

Oh snap. I've been wondering this same thing and have come very close to posting this as well recently. Thanks~
posted by scarabic at 7:50 PM on November 29, 2005

dagnyscott: I'd like to correct you to "I've seen that too," and compliment you since like a lot of linguistic mistakes it's also an inventive recasting of the word (also seen in the form of "me three").
posted by abcde at 10:02 PM on November 29, 2005