# How much cheaper are trans fats than healthier fats? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 6, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838 "2007-03-06T19:06:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/1 "2007-03-06T19:06:16Z")
Just to get a specific example, let’s talk about French Fries. How much cheaper is it for restaurants to use the trans fats in their oil than to use a healthier substitute? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/2 "2007-03-06T21:42:08Z")
This is a highly controversial subject. And it probably varies greatly among individual situations. However, the [official NYC site about their trans fat ban](http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/cardio/cardio-transfat-healthcode-faq.shtml) denies that there will be any extra costs: > [@](#): > > Are healthier oils more expensive? Will restaurant prices go up? > > The cost of healthier replacement products should not affect the price of menu items. Widely available, traditional vegetable oils, such as corn and soy, are already used extensively by New York City restaurants. Newly marketed trans fat-free oils with longer fry lives may cost more per gallon, but may also last longer, potentially making them cost-neutral. Trans fat-free oils are already being used by many New York City restaurants for cooking, frying, and baking. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/3 "2007-03-07T00:05:18Z")
I think a lot of trans-fat things just taste better compared to comparable products with unsaturated fats only. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/4 "2007-03-07T00:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=groman] I think a lot of trans-fat things just taste better compared to comparable products with unsaturated fats only. [/QUOTE] Uh, I do believe you’re thinking of something else-you can get plenty of saturated fats that aren’t trans-fat. ETA: Actually, they’re unsaturated. So never mind. But it doesn’t look like they’re there for [taste](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat). ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/5 "2007-03-07T00:45:06Z")
Trans fats do not taste any better, they are an unnatural byproduct of the hydrogenation process. It seems to me the best method to remove trans-fats would be to continue the hydrogenation process until even the trans-fats are hydrogenated. That would be more expensive to do. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/6 "2007-03-07T00:50:39Z")
Anecdotally, I’ve heard the biggest concern is in baked goods where solid fats are required to give the right texture to pastries. Restaurants are faced with either using trans fats which are unhealthy or saturated animal fats like butter which then makes the food non-vegan. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/7 "2007-03-07T01:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] Trans fats do not taste any better, they are an unnatural byproduct of the hydrogenation process. It seems to me the best method to remove trans-fats would be to continue the hydrogenation process until even the trans-fats are hydrogenated. That would be more expensive to do. [/QUOTE] I think people are misinterpreting what I said. The reason we hydrogenate things is taste and texture. The way I see it, if simplified to a single concept: You can make something with lard, hydrogenated oil, or normal vegetable oil. Lard is considered unhealthy, but probably tastes the best. Oil is considered healthiest, and is probably cheapest, but is difficult (but not impossible) to use because it is liquid making a lot of things have the wrong texture or taste. Hydrogenation seemingly gave people the best of both worlds - a solid, vegetable fat. What I was referring to is that if you just substitute liquid oil for hydrogenated solid vegetable fat, the same product would probably be cheaper to make and would taste considerably worse (or have entirely incorrect texture). If you substitute lard, it’ll most likely be more expensive, and taste better, but less people would buy it. This is just a guess on my part though. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/8 "2007-03-07T03:14:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Lard is considered unhealthy, but probably tastes the best. Based on the research I’ve read, I’ll eat lard any day before trans-fats. Trans-fats are really bad. Your body is not made to deal with them. I’ll give you this. You cannot substitute hydrogenated vegatable oil for just plain vegetable oil. They are simply not interchangable. Of couse lard does not have the shelf life of hydrogenated vegetable oil, so there’s another expense these resteraunts don’t want to pay. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cheaper-are-trans-fats-than-healthier-fats/394838/9 "2007-03-07T14:33:05Z")
[QUOTE=Shalmanese] Anecdotally, I’ve heard the biggest concern is in baked goods where solid fats are required to give the right texture to pastries. Restaurants are faced with either using trans fats which are unhealthy or saturated animal fats like butter which then makes the food non-vegan. [/QUOTE] My grandmother bakes with lard. To my Completely Modernized And Westernized mouth, her cookies taste a little off. But her soap is really cool!