A Nutrition Label Epiphany (L-O-N-G)

Just when I thought I knew how to decipher a nutrition label, I learn a new and very important trick regarding fats. I’m probably very late to this game, but surely ahead of many others. I'm sure Carlos Mencia has a "Dee-Dee-Dee Award" waiting for me.

Back in the good ol’ days (that would be before January 2006), nutrition labels listed every kind of fat the product contained—total fat, saturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and monounsaturated fat—but nothing about trans fats. We’d never even HEARD of them until a couple of years ago.

Now, with the FDA’s ruling that all trans fats must be listed, something on the label had to be deleted to save space. That deletion was the most important fat of all, especially in light of the current obesity epidemic: polyunsaturated fats.

If you know anything about fats, nutrition, and the current food politic dogma, this will be a head-scratcher for you—I follow the Weston A. Price philosophy when it comes to fats, because the FDA and current dogma don’t take into account the length of the fat chain. The longer and more involved the chain, the more it gets stored, and for longer periods of time. This means saturated fats are healthier for you than polyunsaturated fats, and this goes against government-sanctioned nutrition policy. Time and time again, research has proven that saturated fats have nothing whatsoever to do with heart disease or clogged arteries, yet that drum gets beaten over and over again by federally-sanctioned nutritionists and health care providers everywhere. “If the FDA doesn’t approve it, it doesn’t exist” as far as these professions are concerned. Never mind that practically ALL the FDA’s wisdom comes from federally-funded researchers—talk about conflict of interest! No independent research going on there, no-sir-ree, because we can’t handle the truth.

Anyway, back to the labels: since the 2006 rule change, all trans fats must be listed—since there is a space premium on this label, something had to be removed, and this meant the polyunsaturated listing had to go. According to the government, we’re not supposed to be concerned with them anyway, so why not just leave them out?

If you turn a product over and read its label, you will find the total fats, saturated fats, and trans fats listed, but not polyunsaturated. If you turn a bottle of oil over and read the label, every kind of fat is listed, and the different kinds off at even ad up to the total number of fats in the product. Here’s an example:

Loriva® Walnut Oil (12 oz.)
Total Fat 14 grams
Saturated Fat 2 grams
Polyunsaturated Fat 9 grams
Monounsaturated Fat 3 grams

This oil contains a total of 14 grams of fat, so we should be able to add up the individual types of fat to get 14. Sure enough, 2 + 9 + 3 = 14. All fats are present and accounted for. Since this product contains more polyunsaturated fats (bad) than saturated and monounsaturated fats (good), this is not a good oil to use. I had a hard time reconciling this, because walnuts contain Omega-3, which is good for you. Looking this up only confused me more, so I left it.

An example of better oil, but not by much, would be this:

Loriva® Garlic Oil (6 oz.)
Total Fat 14 grams
Saturated Fat 1 gram
Polyunsaturated Fat 4 grams
Monounsaturated Fat 9 grams

Again, we can add these components up and arrive at the total fat number. We also notice that there are more good fats than bad in this product, so this product is staying in the pantry until it is used up. It won’t be replaced unless I can find one with a better fat profile.

Here’s an example of a terrific oil as far as fats go:

Spectrum® Avocado Oil (8 oz.)
Total Fat 14 grams
Saturated Fat 2 grams
Polyunsaturated Fat 2 grams
Trans Fats 0 grams
Monounsaturated Fat 10 grams

Again, the individual components add up to the total fat number—all are present and accounted for. Good fats are in abundance here, and outweigh the bad fats by a wide margin. As you can see by the examples used, I make a lot of exotic salad dressings and do some serious sauteéing.

Now, let’s visit a product that isn’t oil at all and see the difference:

Desert Pepper® White Bean Dip (16 oz.)
Total fat 0.5 grams
Saturated Fat 0 grams
Trans Fat 0 grams

The first thing I noticed was the distinct lack of a polyunsaturated fat listing, and this led to my epiphany. The individual fat components do not add up to the total, so THERE ARE HIDDEN FATS IN THIS PRODUCT. Granted, in this example, those hidden fats don’t add up to a whole lot, but still. The idea of hiding fats is very objectionable to me, especially in light of the obesity problem and high numbers of people with heart problems and out-of-control blood pressure in this country.

Don’t be fooled by “feel good” foods from a health food store, either. A typical snack bar has the following fat profile:

Alpsnack™ Coconut/Pineapple/Mango with Hemp Seeds (1.5 oz.)
Total Fat 12 grams
Saturated Fat 4 grams
Trans Fats 0 grams

No other fasts are listed. We can account for a third of them, but where are the missing 8 grams of fat? Let’s ask our new sworn enemy, Polly Unsaturates. This particular product gets the fat from almonds and hemp seeds, which (come to find out) are quite high in polyunsaturated fats by themselves. The wrapper of this product says it contains “over 500 mg. of Omega-3” in each bar, but there are ways of getting your Omega-3 without all the hidden excess polyunsaturated fat. Judging by the fat profile, these bars are better for birds than humans (and even look like compressed bird food) in spite of all the claims on the wrapper!

This led me to examine my supplement collection, mainly the fish oil and flax oil caps. I began to question whether ANYTHING was good for me any more. Both labels had both kinds of fats in them, but they were in exact equal amounts, and all were listed and accounted for in the total fat grams. The good fats will cancel out the bad fats as far as body effect goes. After searching on the web for information about nuts, seeds, and polyunsaturates, I found that most of our supposed “good foods” aren’t really good foods at all—in the case of nuts and seeds, some of the OILS are good, but not the foods themselves. Olives also fall into this category—the oil is terrific, but the food is abysmally high in “bad” fats. Go figure!

Your mission for today: go to your cupboards and pantries and discover the hidden fats in your homes. Learn how to watch out for what the government and food labels AREN’T telling us, and learn how to cancel out your current “bad fats” with good ones. Just for fun and extra credit, visit a fast food outlet and read the nutrition profiles of their foods, paying particular attention to the fat and sodium numbers—they are required to provide this information to the public free of charge, either by posting it on a wall or by brochure. If what the fries are cooked in isn’t stated, ask the counter person--then look up that oil’s fat profile on the web. You may be pleasantly surprised or egregiously horrified at what you find.

If you consume any amount of polyunsaturated fats, make sure they equal the amount of good fats in the product. When it comes to bad fats, “far less than or equal to” good fats is the way to go. Be wary of what the labels DON’T tell you—just because something isn’t listed doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or that we get to ignore it. Read labels carefully and try to find alternatives with healthier fat profiles. Your body will thank you for it.