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No Trans Fats
in Peanut Butter--Contrary to Current Rumor
By Judy McBride
June 12, 2001Recurring rumors that commercial peanut
butters contain trans fats--which appear to increase risk of cardiovascular
disease--have no basis in fact, according to an
Agricultural Research Service study.
The rumors no doubt started because small amounts of hydrogenated vegetable
oils are added to commercial peanut butters--at 1 to 2 percent of total
weight--to prevent the peanut oil from separating out. And the hydrogenation
process can generate the formation of trans fatty acids in oils, according to
Timothy H. Sanders, who leads research at ARS
Market Quality and Handling
Research Unit at Raleigh, N.C.
To see if the rumors had any validity, Sanders prepared 11 brands of peanut
butter, including major store brands and natural brands, for
analysis by a commercial laboratory. He also sent paste freshly prepared from
roasted peanuts for comparison. The laboratory found no detectable trans fats
in any of the samples, with a detection limit of 0.01 percent of the sample
weight.
That means that a 32-gram serving of any of the 11 brands could contain from
zero to a little over three-thousandths (0.0032) of a gram of trans fats
without being detected. While current regulations dont require food
labels to disclose trans fat levels, they do require disclosure of saturated
fat levels at or above five-tenths (0.5) of a gram. For comparison, thats
156 times higher than this studys detection limit for trans fats.
By contrast, peanut butter has plenty of unsaturated fatty acids. The most
abundant is oleic acid, the monounsaturated fat believed to be good for the
cardiovascular system. In this analysis, oleic acid levels ranged from 19
percent of total weight in one private-label brand to 27 percent in one
natural type. Palmitic acid, the most abundant saturated fatty
acid, weighed in at about 5 percent among all brands.
Scientific contact: Timothy H. Sanders, ARS Market Quality and
Handling Research Unit, Raleigh, N.C., phone (919) 515-6312, fax (919)
515-7124, [email protected].