Click the play button on the video window to the right to see the storyOne trip to the grocery store and it's easy to find products that say zero trans fats.
But even with zero on the bag, you'll find ingredients like partially hydrogenated soybean oil that have trans fats.
The box advertises zero grams on the front.
It even says zero on the nutrition label.
Chrissy Barth is a Registered Dietitian in the Valley.
“The worst types of fat are trans fats," said Barth.
She tells her clients to read the ingredients - not just the labels.
“I think anything artificial, especially in large quantities, is poison to our bodies,” she said.
So why does zero not mean zero? Loopholes.
While the federal Food and Drug Administration demanded trans fats be listed, there are three rules that allow manufacturers to hide them.
1) Food makers can round down measurements by .5 increments.
2) The FDA allows their measurements on a nutrition label to be off by 20 percent. Here's a hypothetical example. Let's say there is .6 grams of trans fat per serving. They can say it is .48, which is 20 percent less and still be in compliance.
3) If the total is less than .5, they are allowed to write 'zero'!
Experts say that's not good for you. Trans fats provide a double whammy. It raises bad cholesterol and lowers good cholesterol.
Trans fats are a known cause of heart disease. And now, a new study links them to colon cancer.
Studies show that just five grams of trans fat a day could increase your risk of heart disease by 25 percent.
“It's easy to consume that five grams per day of trans fat,” said Barth.
She's not kidding. We prepared breakfast, lunch, dinner and a few snacks from our grocery trip using foods advertised as zero grams.
We don't know the exact trans fat measurements in these products, but if we use our hypothetical .6 example and the manufacturer's serving size, you could be consuming almost five grams of trans fats. It’s supposed to be zero.
Keeping to the serving size is very hard to do. A study reports people eat on average three to four servings at a time. Do that and you are way over the limit.
California passed a law to go trans fat free. Some major cities are following suit.
And many restaurants have voluntarily gone trans fat free.
We asked the 18 companies in our story for comment. Five told us they are in compliance with FDA guidelines and two told us it's only in their seasoning and still fall under guidelines.
The news isn't all bad... the latest research shows that natural trans fats that are in meat and dairy products are fine. They may even be good for you.
Find out more about trans fats on the
FDA’s website.
