Nutrition Facts Labels - Help Understanding The Fat Breakdowns

CoolTweetPete

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Just as an example to demonstrate what I mean, someone just handed me a bag of microwave popcorn, and as I always do, the first thing I did was flip it around and look at the ingredients and nutrition facts.

I noticed the label shows,

Total Fat 6g
Saturated Fat 2.5g
Trans fat 0g
Polyunsaturated fat 1g
Monounsaturated fat 2g

Can someone explain where the other .5g of fat went? Those are the only types of fat, if i'm not mistaken?

The label that began this curiosity was a bit more dumbfounding than this. A package of grass fed ground beef looked like this,

Total Fat 4g
Saturated Fat 1g
Trans Fat 0g


Are they not obligated to tell me what the other 3g are? This seems to be the situation with a lot of the meat that I encounter. Is the remaining fat MUFA? PUFA? :shock:
 

Sea

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I never even see pufa listed on labels. I always look at the total fat and the saturated fat and then make assumptions based on the ingredients whether or not it is safe to consume.

I think that in this example they may not have to tell you if it has a small amount of trans fat or some other fat below a certain threshold.
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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That's odd because what could the threshhold be? If 25% of it's fat is saturated, most (75%) of the fat in the product (the beef) is unaccounted for.

Meanwhile in the popcorn, there was a nice breakdown (except that missing 1/2 gram!).

I think this is important for those of us wishing to avoid PUFA.
 

Mittir

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It is possible that rest of the 0.5 gram is trans fat. They are allowed to label 0 trans fat if the amount is within 0.5 grams.
 

Sea

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"Look for partially hydrogenated oils, a source of trans fat, on the ingredient list on a food package. Note: The Nutrition Facts label can state 0 grams of trans fat if the food product contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Thus, if a product contains partially hydrogenated oils, then it might contain small amounts of trans fat even if the label says 0 grams of trans fat." (http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPack ... 079609.htm)
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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Mittir said:
post 103455 It is possible that rest of the 0.5 gram is trans fat. They are allowed to label 0 trans fat if the amount is within 0.5 grams.

Highly possible! I was unaware of that rule. What a TERRIBLE rule. :lol:
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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Sea said:
post 103457 "Look for partially hydrogenated oils, a source of trans fat, on the ingredient list on a food package. Note: The Nutrition Facts label can state 0 grams of trans fat if the food product contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Thus, if a product contains partially hydrogenated oils, then it might contain small amounts of trans fat even if the label says 0 grams of trans fat." (http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPack ... 079609.htm)

Hmmmmm oddly enough, it does not list any hydrogenated oils. Is that always the only oil synonymous with 'trans'?

The ingredients are,

Popping corn, palm oil, less than 2% of: Salt, butter, natural flavor, color added, TBHQ, and Citric Acid

Not exactly a nutritional powerhouse either way. :ninja
 
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Sea

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CoolTweetPete said:
post 103461
Sea said:
post 103457 "Look for partially hydrogenated oils, a source of trans fat, on the ingredient list on a food package. Note: The Nutrition Facts label can state 0 grams of trans fat if the food product contains less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Thus, if a product contains partially hydrogenated oils, then it might contain small amounts of trans fat even if the label says 0 grams of trans fat." (http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPack ... 079609.htm)

Hmmmmm oddly enough, it does not list any hydrogenated oils. Is that always the only oil synonymous with 'trans'?

The ingredients are,

Popping corn, palm oil, less than 2% of: Salt, butter, natural flavor, color added, TBHQ, and Citric Acid

Not exactly a nutritional powerhouse either way. :ninja

Maybe its the palm oil?

As for your beef, it should have around 1.5 grams of saturated fat, but maybe they don't list fractions. The rest would be mainly monounsaturated fat. Of course, there is always the chance that the farmer made a mistake in feeding the cow.
 
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Mittir

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Butter has some trans fat, though it is considered harmless trans-fat by Fred Kummerow.
There is 3.3 grams of trans fat in 100 grams of butter.
For 3 grams of butter there is .1 grams of trans fat.
Another possibility is that they are rounding off other numbers.
May be there is 1.1 grams of PUFA rounded off to 1 and 2.2 grams of MUFA to 2.
They could do the same with saturated fat , say 2.6 grams of saturated fat rounded off to 2.5 grams.
You will notice they are going for whole digit and .5 increment.
 
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CoolTweetPete

CoolTweetPete

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@Sea,

Yes, could be the palm oil, or as Mittir mentioned, the trans fat from the butter could be unlisted. Good news on the MUFA in the beef. I just wish they were forced to provide more specific labeling.

@Mittir

Again, I wish they were not allowed to round in such elaborate and sneaky ways. I wonder if this labeling system is more highly regulated in other countries.

On a side note, Andrew Kim believes that trans fat is not as big of a problem as PUFA, so if it was anything I'm glad it was that!
Andrew Kim said:
post 103465 "In enzymatic processes, PUFA that can bend into a tight hairpin shape, so as to facilitate the formation of a ring structure, can be oxidized to a host of messenger molecules collectively called eicosanoids. So, cis oriented PUFA can participate in these reactions, whereas trans oriented PUFA can’t, which explains why trans fatty acids are more resistant to enzymatic (and nonenzymatic) peroxidation processes, and thus not likely to lead to inflammation (and oxidative stress) like other PUFA.1 (The alarmism and the pleading, in sepulchral tones, to avoid trans fatty acids at all costs, at least thus far, is unfounded and gross. Ew.)"
 
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