Why your cookies don't have bad fats anymore
Assessment of the Presence of Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHOs) as a Source of Industrially Produced Trans Fatty Acids (i-TFAs) in Packaged Foods in Poland, Pre- and Post-Implementation of EU Regulation 2019/649
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Palm oil use didn’t drop after the ban—it stayed at 39.7% of all products, meaning tropical oils remained dominant despite the trans fat crackdown.
People assume banning PHOs leads to healthier fats overall, but this shows the food industry just shifted from one unhealthy fat to another without improving the nutritional profile.
Practical Takeaways
Check ingredient labels: If you see 'palm oil,' 'palm kernel oil,' or 'vegetable oil' (without specification), it might be a heart-health swap you didn’t expect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Palm oil use didn’t drop after the ban—it stayed at 39.7% of all products, meaning tropical oils remained dominant despite the trans fat crackdown.
People assume banning PHOs leads to healthier fats overall, but this shows the food industry just shifted from one unhealthy fat to another without improving the nutritional profile.
Practical Takeaways
Check ingredient labels: If you see 'palm oil,' 'palm kernel oil,' or 'vegetable oil' (without specification), it might be a heart-health swap you didn’t expect.
Publication
Journal
Nutrients
Year
2025
Authors
Edyta Jasińska-Melon, Hanna Mojska, Bogumiła Krygier, Sławomir Garboś
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Claims (8)
The oil that replaced the bad trans fat (palm oil) is mostly saturated fat — which is also bad for your heart — so swapping one bad fat for another might not help much.
Before a new law took effect, about 7 out of every 100 packaged foods in Poland had a type of oil called partially hydrogenated oil, mostly in things like soups, bread, and candy.
About 4 in 10 of the foods that used to have the bad oil were just taken off the shelves entirely instead of being changed to use a different fat.
When companies stopped using the bad oil (PHOs), more than half of them switched to palm oil — which is high in saturated fat, another type of fat linked to heart disease.
After the law changed, not a single packaged food product in Poland had the harmful oil called partially hydrogenated oil on its label anymore.