Posted by kathryn in Fat and Q & A Thursday

A reader asks:

Are you able to tell me what margarines are trans fat free? I have an intolerance to dairy products, so are there any without milk products in them, or at least only a very small amount. The one I use (Nuttelex) says it is virtually TFA free, whatever that means.

I’ve blogged about trans fats quite a lot before and some basic posts are: what’s the problem, what foods contain trans fats and a reality check.

In terms of specific brands and their differing fat contents, I’d refer you to Choice’s article on just this subject. The article is here and there is a table of the best choices. This outlines the saturated, trans, mono- and poly-unsaturated content of a variety of spreads. I should note, this article is a couple of years old now and some spread manufacturers have re-formulated their products to reduce the trans fat levels. The list of best choices is still a good guide though.

Nuttelex advertise themselves as being “virtually trans fat free”, which is partly clever marketing. It contain 0.5g of trans per 100g of the spread, which translates to about 0.02g per teaspoon. How much trans you are getting from your spread, therefore depends on how much of it you’re eating.

While this is a low level, here in Australia there are a range of non-dairy spreads with a zero trans fats level (eg Bertolli Light, Melrose Omega 3, Becel Diet Polyunsaturated spread and Weight Watchers Canola spread).

Bear in mind you can also use other foods as spreads, and these are trans fat free and have many other health benefits. My regulars are tahini, ricotta, hummous and avocado.

21 June, 2007