# Sam's Club finds a worse food to promote... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155 "2013-05-23T19:54:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/1 "2013-05-23T19:54:00Z")
I really thought that grocery retailers in general and Sam’s Club in particular had hit bottom selling… the N-stuff… as some sort of cheery good-fer-ya food. Turns out there was another bottom. SC has hucksters selling this crap like it’s the greatest health food to come down the pike since whatever came down the pike last week: [Coconut Oil](http://www.samsclub.com/sams/tresomega-nutrition-organic-extra-virgin-coconut-oil-4-pk/prod5340960.ip). I didn’t talk to the cheery cheerleader or read the hand-out sheet, but I did stop an aisle over and Google up both [coconut oil info](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil) and [the product](https://www.google.com/search?q=tresomega+coconut). (On that last search, read as many entries as you like, noting the bullet points they shout and the nutrition information they ignore.) Contrary to the many wonderful points the health-food sites list, WP’s section on nutrition begins with: > [@](#): > > Many health organizations advise against the consumption of high amounts of coconut oil due to its high levels of saturated fat, including the United States [Food and Drug Administration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration), [World Health Organization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization), International College of Nutrition, the United States [Department of Health and Human Services](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Health_and_Human_Services), [American Dietetic Association](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dietetic_Association),[[URL=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American\_Heart\_Association”]American Heart Association](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil#cite_note-ADA-6), British [National Health Service](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service),[and [URL=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietitians\_of\_Canada”]Dietitians of Canada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_oil#cite_note-NHS-8). As well they should - while the palm oil used in N-----a is 49% saturated fat, coconut oil is a whopping 91%. It’s health food only compared to butter, and even then it’s got downsides. Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/2 "2013-05-23T19:58:40Z")
What’s the N stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/3 "2013-05-23T20:01:43Z")
I think they’re talking about Nutella. Not sure why they’re shy about typing it. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/4 "2013-05-23T20:03:43Z")
nevermind. question answered. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/5 "2013-05-23T20:04:48Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Not sure why they’re shy about typing it. Because the last time I pointed out it was garbage in a jar being marketed as healthy kid food, I caught buckets of stuff that looked just like it. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/6 "2013-05-23T20:13:18Z")
Unless they’re advocating we top crackers with wedges of it or send our kids to school with coconut oil sandwiches, I’m not sure what the objection is. Sure, it ain’t health food, but it’s _oil_, which is, by definition, fat. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/7 "2013-05-23T20:19:07Z")
All this time the N- word was Nutella? Man, I had a really wild misconception. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/8 "2013-05-23T20:20:44Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Unless they’re advocating we top crackers with wedges of it or send our kids to school with coconut oil sandwiches, I’m not sure what the objection is. Sure, it ain’t health food, but it’s _oil_, which is, by definition, fat. Read all the promo material. They are emphasizing trivialities and nonsense (gee, it’s COLD PRESSED from REAL COCONUTS and has NO GMO CONTENT and so forth) while omitting every single nutrition fact of real consequence and implying between every line that this is some wonderful new nutrition discovery. They can sell it, just like they can sell bacon, Nutella and whatever. I object to the almost ludicrous level of razzle-dazzle and misdirection. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2013, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/9 "2013-05-23T20:21:46Z")
I do believe there’s some debate over whether or not the saturated fat in coconut oil is actually as bad as other saturated fat, or at all, or if saturated fat itself is actually bad. I think the “No, the saturated fat in coconut oil is not as bad as other saturared fats” argument is starting to tip the scales. However you can use it on your hair and skin to your heart’s content, at no risk to your heart itself. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/10 "2013-05-23T20:30:49Z")
AB, while I respect your outrage over the continued fleecing of American consumers, I do really have to question you when it’s directed at SAMS CLUB for crying out loud. They treat their employees like shit, their stores pander to the lowest common denominator, and their stated goal in life is to rake in buckets of cash for the least effort possible. If CRISCO could be made sexy, then there would be people with flash-fried lardballs at the end of every aisle handing them out to all and sundry. If this were being perpetrated by Whole Foods or Trader Joes, I’d be with you all the way, but dude, you gotta understand, the people who shop at SAMS don’t really give a rats ass about health or truth in advertising or any of those hippy ideas - if they did, they wouldn’t be shopping there! I hate to say they deserve what they pay for, but really… they deserve what they pay for! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/11 "2013-05-23T20:43:14Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > AB, while I respect your outrage over the continued fleecing of American consumers, I do really have to question you when it’s directed at SAMS CLUB for crying out loud. I call 'em like (and where) I see 'em, and I don’t see this degree of carnie hucksterism any other place. The rest of your points are valid, to a large degree, and were behind my outrage at Nutella: by deceptively promoting these products to fish in a barrel (all due apologies to fish who are smarter, and smaller than barrels) they are compounding the offense. The defense against Nutella’s deception was basically that “everyone worth worrying about knows it’s candy-crap in a jar” and everyone else was somehow getting what they deserved for failing to be smart enough. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t think being perceptive enough to see through well-crafted deception represents a Darwinian break point. At least, not one we have to accept. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/12 "2013-05-23T20:44:51Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > They can sell it, just like they can sell bacon, Nutella and whatever. I object to the almost ludicrous level of razzle-dazzle and misdirection. Meh. Have you ever seen an infomercial with Ron Popeil where he expounds all the uses and positive qualities of, say, his knife set, but for some reason he fails to include a section where he points out that they’re low-grade stamped pieces of shit? ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/13 "2013-05-23T20:48:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > All this time the N- word was Nutella? > > Man, I had a really wild misconception. Nutella, please! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/14 "2013-05-23T20:51:28Z")
As mentioned, it’s oil, and by definition oil is fat. There’s lots of misleading advertising in all stores: LIGHT Olive Oil is sold there, referring to the _taste_ rather than the calories though I’m sure many think they’re getting a reduced fat version; ditto with “Fat Free!” products that are indeed fat free but have 9,000 calories per serving. It’s only been a few years since some brands of fruits and vegetables stopped advertising as “Cholesterol Free!” (as if the Green Giant asparagus or the Dole pineapple bits were chock full of cholesterol). You really can’t be held responsible for the buyer’s ignorance of basic food facts, and the onus of self education is on the buyer. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/15 "2013-05-23T20:51:53Z")
I’m surprised more things aren’t flavored with antifreeze. Sure it has a few health drawbacks, but it’s so sweet! Anyway, only losers let “nutritionists” tell them what they should and shouldn’t do with their own bodies. They already want us to give up Red Bull and fried chicken and waffles. Is socialism far behind? I think it’s the negative name. Maybe we could market it as “Ethyl-Lean Gee!” ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/16 "2013-05-23T21:07:53Z")
I had been wondering why hillbillies alla sudden knew what Nutella was. ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/17 "2013-05-23T21:10:44Z")
_shrugs_ Coconut oil is probably the single most amazing hair treatment you can do. Add in some honey and you’ll look like a hair model in a shampoo commercial after on treatment. Seriously, I’ve been doing coconut oil and honey treatments for the last year and even my hair dresser commented on the fact that my color treated, fine, easy to break hair that I use heat on every single day suddenly had almost no split ends. She thought I was using some fancy pants product-- nope! $5 coconut oil. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/18 "2013-05-23T21:14:37Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > AB, while I respect your outrage over the continued fleecing of American consumers, I do really have to question you when it’s directed at SAMS CLUB for crying out loud. > > They treat their employees like shit, their stores pander to the lowest common denominator, and their stated goal in life is to rake in buckets of cash for the least effort possible. If CRISCO could be made sexy, then there would be people with flash-fried lardballs at the end of every aisle handing them out to all and sundry. > > If this were being perpetrated by Whole Foods or Trader Joes, I’d be with you all the way, but dude, you gotta understand, the people who shop at SAMS don’t really give a rats ass about health or truth in advertising or any of those hippy ideas - if they did, they wouldn’t be shopping there! I hate to say they deserve what they pay for, but really… they deserve what they pay for! heh - I started using coconut oil after a tasting at Trader Joes. They made cornbread using it - and it tasted amazing. I now use it for frying when I make various Indonesian / Thai inspired dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/19 "2013-05-23T21:19:53Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > _shrugs_ > > Coconut oil is probably the single most amazing hair treatment you can do. Add in some honey and you’ll look like a hair model in a shampoo commercial after on treatment. > > Seriously, I’ve been doing coconut oil and honey treatments for the last year and even my hair dresser commented on the fact that my color treated, fine, easy to break hair that I use heat on every single day suddenly had almost no split ends. She thought I was using some fancy pants product-- nope! $5 coconut oil. Nutella is the new Jheri Curl? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155/20 "2013-05-23T21:24:06Z")
**Amateur Barbarian** , in general I agree with you about misleading advertising and overpromotion of health aspects while downplaying real concerns. I’m not sure how far over the line this advertising is. In particular, you point out coconut oil is 91% saturated fat. Yet the very wiki page you cite says > [@](#): > > Coconut oil contains a large proportion of lauric acid—a saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol levels by increasing the amount of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. It is also found in significant amounts in laurel oil, palm kernel oil (not to be confused with palm oil), human and animal breast milk and sebaceous gland secretions. This may create a more favourable blood cholesterol profile, though it is unclear if coconut oil may promote atherosclerosis through other pathways. Because much of the saturated fat of coconut oil is in the form of lauric acid, coconut oil may be a better alternative to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil when solid fats are required. In addition, virgin coconut oil is composed mainly of medium-chain triglycerides, which may not carry the same risks as other saturated fats. That paragraph right there suggests that as a saturated fat, it is more healthy than other saturated fats, and furthermore, _virgin_ coconut oil is mostly medium-chain triglycerides, and possibly lower risk than other saturated fats. So what do I see the promo material stating? > [@](#): > > [ul] > [li]Made with 100% Certified, organic, cold pressed coconuts[/li][li]… Expeller Pressed; No Cholesterol[/li][li]Rich in Medium Chain Fatty Acids (62%MCT); Lauric Acid 6657 mg per serving; Caprylic Acid 1043 mg per serving; Capric Acid 994 mg per serving[/li][/ul] Matches what wiki says. Furthermore, you state: > [@](#): > > They are emphasizing trivialities and nonsense (gee, it’s COLD PRESSED from REAL COCONUTS and has NO GMO CONTENT and so forth) Actually, they have some very valid comments about the quality of their product and how they obtain it. From the wiki entry: > [@](#): > > The all-wet process uses raw coconut rather than dried copra, and the protein in the coconut creates an emulsion of oil and water. The more problematic step is breaking up the emulsion to recover the oil. This used to be done by prolonged boiling, but this produces a discolored oil and is not economical;\*\* modern techniques use centrifuges and pre-treatments including cold, heat, acids, salts, enzymes, electrolysis, shock waves, or some combination of them\*\*. Despite numerous variations and technologies, wet processing is less viable than dry processing due to a 10-15% lower yield, even compared to the losses due to spoilage and pests with dry processing. Wet processes also require investment of equipment and energy, incurring high capital and operating costs. > > Proper harvesting of the coconut (the age of a coconut can be 2 to 20 months when picked) makes a significant difference in the efficacy of the oil-making process. Copra made from immature nuts is more difficult to work with and produces an inferior product with lower yields. Conventional coconut oil uses **hexane** as a solvent to extract up to 10% more oil than just using rotary mills and expellers. The oil is then refined to remove certain free fatty acids, in order to reduce susceptibility to rancidification. Other processes to increase shelf life include using copra with a moisture content below 6%, keeping the moisture content of the oil below 0.2%, **heating the oil to 130–150 °C (266–302 °F) and adding salt or citric acid.** That sounds like some things people might be concerned about, like the use of hexane in the processing of something to be eaten. So they are emphasizing that their product is only manually extracted, not chemically extracted, and not subjected to extensive processes that might affect the quality of the oil in the name of recovering more oil. Those sound like fair observations. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sams-club-finds-a-worse-food-to-promote/659155.md?page=2)