Where They Still Hide, and What to Cook With Instead
By Larry Betz | Prepared Not Paranoid https://www.preparednotparanoid.com/
If you grew up in the 1980s or 1990s, you were told margarine was the heart-healthy choice and butter was the danger. That advice turned out to be backwards. The margarine and shortening of that era were loaded with artificial trans fats, and they were in nearly every cookie, cracker, doughnut, and fast-food fry in America.
The good news is that the U.S. has essentially removed artificial trans fats from the food supply. That's one of the biggest public health wins of the last 20 years.
The less-good news? "0 g trans fat" on a label doesn't always mean zero, and the same industrial food system that gave us trans fats now relies on refined oils that raise questions of their own.
This post gives you the current facts on both, so you can read labels with confidence and choose cooking oils that support your family's health, every day and in your emergency pantry.
What Are Trans Fats?
Trans fats are fats produced by the hydrogenation or partial hydrogenation of liquid vegetable oils, which chemically alters them to become solid. Food makers loved them because they were cheap, lasted a long time on the shelf, and gave baked goods a satisfying texture. They were commonly found in processed foods, including cookies, baked goods, popcorn, margarine, shortenings, crackers, doughnuts, chips, frozen waffles, and french fries.
Trans fats are artificially altered versions of essential fat molecules that play a key role in metabolism. Often, a small change in an essential molecule leads to the transformation into a new molecule with an opposite biological effect. Studies confirm that trans fats increase the risk of heart attack and have other adverse effects.
Health Risks of Trans Fats
Initially, the evidence linking trans fat intake to heart disease was indirect and not convincing. That changed as better studies came in.
The Nurses' Health Study, one of the longest-running major women's health investigations, produced one of the clearest. Instead of relying on food questionnaires or food diaries, which often suffer from poor recall, researchers measured trans fatty acid levels in red blood cells as a direct marker of each woman's trans fat intake. They compared 166 women who developed heart disease with 327 matched women who did not. Women with the highest trans fat levels had about three times the risk of heart disease of women with the lowest levels, even after accounting for age, smoking, and other risk factors.
Other studies have shown an increase in LDL (bad cholesterol) and a decrease in HDL (good cholesterol) with trans fat consumption, unlike with saturated fats. The change in the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol, which best predicts heart disease, was about twice as bad on a high trans fat diet as on a high saturated fat diet. Evidence has clearly shown that trans fats increase the risk of heart disease, and research suggests they may also raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.
How much is safe? There's no safe level of artificial trans fat. The World Health Organization has called on every country to eliminate industrially produced trans fats.
The FDA Ban: What Happened and When
Partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs) were the main source of artificial trans fat. Here's how the U.S. removed them.
What about the old numbers? Older nutrition books, including my own earlier materials, quoted figures like 5 grams of trans fat in a serving of french fries, more than 3 grams in a danish, and 1.1 grams in a serving of microwave popcorn. Those numbers were accurate before the ban. Today, U.S. fast-food fries and major brands of microwave popcorn generally list 0 grams of trans fat. The fried food and the popcorn bag still have other problems, like refined oils and additives, but artificial trans fat is no longer the main one.
Where Trans Fats Still Hide
The ban removed the big sources. A few small ones remain.
The "0 grams" label loophole. FDA rules allow a product with less than 0.5 gram of trans fat per serving to list "0 g." Since PHOs are gone, most products really are at or near zero. But watch the serving size. If a serving is 5 crackers with 0.4 gram each, and you eat 20 crackers, that "0 g" just became 1.6 grams.
Other places small amounts turn up:
Refined oils. The high-heat step used to make refined vegetable oils can create small amounts of trans fat.
Reused frying oil. Restaurant fryer oil heated over and over breaks down and can form small amounts of trans fat.
Imported and specialty foods. Not every country has banned PHOs.
Old stockpiles. If you've got shortening, margarine, or packaged food bought before 2021 tucked in the back of a pantry or bug-out bin, check the label and the date.
What to Look For in the Ingredient List
The numbers on the label tell you part of the story. The ingredient list tells you the rest.
Natural Trans Fats
Small amounts of trans fat occur naturally in beef, lamb, butter, milk, and cheese. They form in the stomachs of grazing animals and are chemically different from the artificial kind. At normal amounts, research doesn't show the same harm. That's why a steak or a block of cheese can show a small amount of trans fat on the package. It's not a reason to avoid real meat and dairy.
Seed Oils: The Debate, and My Take
With trans fats mostly gone, the most heated fat debate today is about "seed oils," the refined oils pressed from seeds and grains: soybean, corn, cottonseed, canola, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and rice bran oil.
Why I Recommend Limiting Refined Seed Oils
My position hasn't changed: high consumption of refined vegetable oils is linked to inflammation and is associated with obesity and diabetes, and most Americans eat far too much of them. Here's why.
They're everywhere in ultra-processed food. Most seed oil comes through fried food, packaged snacks, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and baked goods. Cut ultra-processed food, and you cut most of your seed oil automatically.
They throw off the omega balance. These oils are very high in omega-6. Omega-6 is essential, but the typical diet supplies far more omega-6 than omega-3. Part 5 covers this.
Refining strips them. Most commercial seed oils are extracted with chemical solvents like hexane, then bleached and deodorized at high heat, which removes their natural antioxidants.
They break down under repeated heat. Fryer oil reused for days forms oxidation products you don't want in your body.
What the Other Side Says
I want you to have the full picture, because that's how you make good decisions.
The American Heart Association has long held that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats, including omega-6 from vegetable oils, lowers LDL cholesterol and heart disease risk. The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030, take a middle position: they favor olive oil for cooking, list butter and beef tallow as acceptable, and also name soybean and canola oil as sources of essential fatty acids. The research community hasn't settled this, and you'll hear strong opinions on both sides.
Where That Leaves Your Family
You don't need to fear a restaurant meal cooked in canola oil. You also don't need to make refined oils the main fat in your kitchen. Here's the practical middle ground I use:
Step 1: Cut the ultra-processed and fried foods first. That's where most seed oil comes from, and those foods have other problems anyway.
Step 2: Cook with stable, minimally processed fats. Extra virgin olive oil for moderate heat; avocado oil, ghee, butter, or coconut oil for higher heat.
Step 3: Save delicate oils for cold use. Flaxseed, walnut, and toasted sesame oil go on food after cooking, not in a hot pan.
Step 4: Eat more omega-3. Fatty fish two to three times a week, plus walnuts, chia, and flax.
Step 5: Read the oil label. Look for organic, cold-pressed, and unrefined. Avoid oils labeled refined or solvent-extracted. If an oil doesn't say "unrefined," assume it's refined.
Fats in Your Emergency Pantry
Fat is the most calorie-dense food you can store, which makes it valuable when food is short. It also goes rancid, which makes choosing the right fats important.
Store: extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and coconut oil, sealed, in dark containers, in the coolest dark spot you have.
Rotate: new bottles go to the back, older bottles move to the front, and you use from the front. Smell any opened oil before using it. Rancid oil smells like crayons or old paint.
Skip: old cans of shortening, margarine tubs, and big jugs of generic "vegetable oil." They're the most processed fats you can store and the most likely to be stale.
Whole-food fats count too: nut butters (nuts and salt only), canned fish in olive oil, and nuts and seeds store well and bring protein with them.
Ask Yourself
Where is most of the fat in my family's diet coming from: whole foods, my own kitchen, or packages and fryers?
Do I trust the "0 g" on the label, or do I check the ingredients?
Are the oils in my emergency pantry fresh, stable, and minimally processed?
Remember
The ban took the worst fat off the shelf, but the label still deserves a second look. Cut the fried and packaged foods, cook with stable real fats, and your family wins on both trans fats and seed oils.
Get Started Today
[FREE DOWNLOAD: TO BE CHOSEN AFTER THE BINDER REVIEW]
Go Deeper
The Prepared Not Paranoid Family Nutrition Guide. This post shows you where trans fats still hide and which oils to trust. The guide goes further: a full chapter on ultra-processed foods and the 2025 to 2030 Dietary Guidelines, how to read every part of a Nutrition Facts panel, a "Food Label Cheat Sheet" and "Ingredients to Avoid" wallet card you can take to the store, and a shelf-life chart for every oil in your pantry. [Get it here: LINK]
Tools I recommend: The olive oil, avocado oil, ghee, and dark glass storage bottles I recommend are in my Amazon store. https://amzn.to/4yM747h
Related reading:
Nutrition Basics, Part 4: Fats and Oils https://www.preparednotparanoid.com/pnp-library/nutrition-lesson-4
Nutrition Basics, Part 5: Omega-3, 6, and 9 [LINK: new post]
Toxic Chemicals to Avoid, Part 1: Reading Food Labels https://www.preparednotparanoid.com/pnp-library/toxic-chemicals-lesson-1
Nutrition Basics, Part 16: Shop for Emergencies the Smart Way https://www.preparednotparanoid.com/pnp-library/nutrition-lesson-10
References
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Final Determination Regarding Partially Hydrogenated Oils (Removing Trans Fat), 2015. https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/trans-fat
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA Completes Final Administrative Actions on Partially Hydrogenated Oils in Foods, December 2023.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Labeling: Trans Fatty Acids in Nutrition Labeling, Final Rule. Federal Register, July 11, 2003.
Sun Q, et al. A prospective study of trans fatty acids in erythrocytes and risk of coronary heart disease. Circulation 115(14):1858 to 1865, 2007.
Mozaffarian D, et al. Trans Fatty Acids and Cardiovascular Disease. New England Journal of Medicine 354(15):1601 to 1613, 2006.
World Health Organization. REPLACE Trans Fat: An Action Package to Eliminate Industrially Produced Trans-Fatty Acids, 2018.
Harris WS, et al. Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Risk for Cardiovascular Disease: A Science Advisory From the American Heart Association. Circulation 119(6):902 to 907, 2009.
U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025 to 2030. Released January 7, 2026. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/
Disclaimer
This article is for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for guidance from your physician or a registered dietitian. If you have high cholesterol, heart disease, gallbladder problems, or take cholesterol or blood-thinning medications, talk to your doctor before making big changes to the fats you eat. Affiliate disclosure: I've linked to products from my Amazon store that I personally recommend. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my work.
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