On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 21:53:04 -0600, zxcvbob >
wrote:
<snip>
>Trans- fats are saturated. That's why they are solid. Roughly half of
>hydrogenated fat is trans- and the other half is... ummm... "cis-", I
>think. Peanut oil contains a little bit of natural saturated fat, all of
>which will be "cis-".

trans and cis are both unsaturated. Those terms refer to the
configuration around a carbon to carbon double bond. If the H's (or
functional groups) are on the same side, it's cis. If they are on the
opposite side, it's trans. If the fatty acid is saturated, you can't
have cis or trans. Hydrogenation converts many unsaturated bonds to
saturated configuration and some unsaturated bonds to to the cis
configuration.

Here's a nice explanation, with drawings.

http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembo...ogenation.html

>So, Skippy probably has about 1 gram of hydrogenated oil per "serving",
>half of that is "trans-", or .5 grams. They adjust the serving size down
>small enough to stay below the .5 gram limit.

Put away your calculators folks. Someone did the study!

from http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2001/010612.htm
****************
"Recurring 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."
**************************


Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!