Where's There's Trans, There's Usually Saturated Fat

I was doing research for a fast food article for WebMD - thumbing through chart after chart of fast food items and their nutrition content, and was excited and horrified to find that many had the trans fat content listed. I was excited because this was the only way I could see which items still had trans and which items didn't. I was horrified because some fast food chains still have quite a bit of trans fats in certain items.

But one thing became quite clear as I looked at the items that still had trans fat - where there is trans fat, there is usually saturated fat too. Add them together and you've got the total of the less desirable fats or "bad" fats. This is true for items in the supermarket too, but here are just a few examples from fast food:

• Arby's Apple or Cherry Turnover contains 6 grams of trans fat and 5 grams of saturated fat
• Arby's Cinnamon Twist contains 4 grams of trans fat and 5 grams of saturated fat
• KFC's Chicken Pot Pie contains 14 grams of trans fat and 15 grams of saturated fat
• Long John Silver's Crispy Chicken Club Salad contains 6.5 grams trans and 9 grams saturated fat
• McDonald's small French fries contain 3.5 grams trans and 2.5 grams saturated fat
• Chick-a-fil's Fudge Nut Brownie contains 2.5 grams trans and 3.5 grams saturated fat

You get the picture!

Related Topics:

• The Skinny on Fat: Good Fats vs. Bad Fats
• Make Your Own Fast Food

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