Identifying Transgressing Trans Fats

New FDA Labeling Requirements Aren't Perfect

(WebMD) 
5. Frozen Food. This is a category where convenience often comes with a risk of clogged arteries.

• Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake — 0.5 grams
  
• Pepperidge Farm Three-Layer Cake-Chocolate Fudge — 3.5 grams
  
• Kid Cuisine All American Fried Chicken — 1.5 grams
  
• Stouffer's Lasagna With Meat and Sauce — 0.5 grams
  
• Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper mixes — from 0 to 0.5 grams
  
• Betty Crocker Complete Meals Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuits — 2.5 grams
  
• DiGiorno Microwave Rising Crust Pizza — 1.5 grams
  
• Tombstone Original Pizza — 0
  
• Freschetta Four-Cheese Pizza — 0.5 grams
  
• Gorton's fish products — 0
  
• Green Giant Pasta, Broccoli and Alfredo Sauce — 0.5 grams

Tip: Moore suggests making your own pizza, as that's where the trans fats often lurk in prepared pizzas. "It's easy. Mix some yeast, flour, salt, and liquid, and give it time to rise. Or use pita bread as a pizza platform."


Chips, Breakfast Cereals, And More

6. Baked Goods. Icings, fillings, and doughnut frying oils are among the most difficult to make without trans fats. What about your favorite bakery for ordering specialty birthday cakes? Ask them what kinds of oils and shortening they use in their cakes and frostings.

• Betty Crocker Warm Delights, Cinnamon — 2 grams
  
• Pillsbury Ready To Bake Sugar Cookies — 1.5 grams
  
• Nestle Toll House refrigerated dough — 0 grams

Tip: Try baking at home, even if you don't know how. Moore says there are many excellent cookbooks that will help you with basic cooking skills.

7. Chips And Crackers. Frito-Lay took the lead and reformulated its line of chips to eliminate trans fats long before the labeling requirement went into effect. Others followed suit.

• Fritos — 0 grams
  
• Lay's Potato Chips — 0 grams
  
• Tostitos — 0 grams
  
• Nabisco Ritz — 0 grams
  
• Nabisco Wheat Thins — 0 grams
  
• Nabisco Triscuit — 0 grams
  
• Keebler Club — 0 grams
  
• Cheese Nips — 0 grams
  
• Pepperidge Farm Goldfish — 0 grams

Tip: Whole Foods stores do not carry products containing trans fats. Urge your grocery store to do the same.

8. Breakfast Food. The cereal and breakfast bar aisle isn't without its perils, but it's far safer than it used to be.

• Cap'n Crunch — 0 grams
  
• Kellogg's Corn Flakes — 0 grams
  
• Total Raisin Bran — 0 grams
  
• Kellogg Pop-Tarts — 0 grams
  
• Quaker Breakfast Bites — 0.5 grams
  
• Trix Milk 'n Cereal Bars — 1 gram

Tip: Even though the deadline for new labels was Jan. 1, 2006, manufacturers have been allowed to use up existing inventories so some products do not yet carry the new labels.

9. Cookies And Candy. Cookies and candies have been reformulated as well. Nabisco Chips Ahoy! Real Chocolate Chip Cookies used to have 1.5 grams of trans fats in a serving of three cookies. Now the value is listed as none, although the product does contain partially hydrogenated oils.

• Oreo cookies — 0 grams
  
• Lil' Debbie Fudge Brownies — 0.5 grams
  
• Nestle candies — 0 grams

Tip: Cookies and candy are nothing but empty calories. Satisfy your sweet tooth with an apple, banana, or pear.

10. Toppings And Dips. This category includes nondairy creamers, flavored coffees, whipped toppings, bean dips, gravy mixes, and salad dressings. Most salad dressings today are trans fat-free, and you'll find a number of the other products in this category without trans fats as well.

• Coffee-Mate — 0 grams
  
• General Foods International Flavored Coffees — 0 grams
  
• Cool Whip — 0 grams
  
• Old El Paso Bean Dip — 0 grams

Tip: Remember to read labels so you can avoid saturated fats, too. And take your reading glasses to the supermarket. You'll need them to read many products' ingredients lists.

Sources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: "2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans." Cindy Moore, MS, RD, director of nutrition therapy, The Cleveland Clinic. Consumer Reports: "Bad fats in Common Foods." FDA: "Questions and Answers about Trans Fat Nutrition Labeling."

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By Leanna Skarnulis
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
© 2006, WebMD Inc. All rights reserved.

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