I was just reading in the LC products area that burger king was going LC

I decided to check out their website and play with the nutritional info. They now list transfats for everything and under beef patty list 2g of transfats. Where do they come from since I didnt think beef had any?

Trans fats occur in small amounts naturally wherever there are unsaturated fats. Basically they are unsaturated fats bent the wrong way. There is only a couple of % of the fat in beef that is polyunsaturated. There is a lot of monounsaturate, but they are less prone to conversion.

2 grams in a serving sounds like a lot unless we are talking about deep fried foods, margarine or really adulterated fake food. 0.2 grams sounds more realistic.

I clicked on a different burger from a different section and that one only has 0.5g Trans Fats but their whopper has 1 or 2g

That just seemed like a high amount for me too withut something else added to it.

It could be the high temperatures (flame broiling) that the meat is cooked at. High temperatures can make transfats out of normally healthy fats and the larger the portion of meat (whopper vs. regular burger), the higher the amount of transfat simply by portion size.
The charring of the meat, while tasty, is also not very good for you as it produces carcinogens.

heat alone will not make transfats they need a metalic catylist and a sourse of hydrogen to change. Check and see if they are giving you the fat for just the meat pattie or fixed with the mayo the whopper has.

My guess is they probably rub it with Grill Seasoning. McDonald's Grill Seasoning is Salt, Pepper, and Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil. As for the meat itself...animals produce small amounts of Trans-Fat in certain parts of the body. These are generally not the parts you'd want to eat. The fact that Ground Beef naturally contains a small amount tells me that they are using parts of the animal I'd rather not know I was eating.

There are 1.006g of Trans-Fat in a Regular Burger according to the USDA Database. The amount decreases as it gets leaner, to 0.468g in 95% Lean Ground Beef. Steak contains No Trans-Fat.

Trans-Fat Content (by Part of the Cow)(per 3-4 oz):

Suet -- 0.000g
Brain -- 0.000g
Meat -- 0.000g
Lungs -- 0.000g
Spleen -- 0.000g
Thymus -- 0.000g
Pancreas -- 0.000g
Heart -- 0.136g
Liver -- 0.143g
Kidneys -- 0.170g
Tripe* -- 0.200g
Tongue -- 0.714g

*per 100g

According to CSPI:

Arby's French Fries -- 4g
Hardee's French Fries -- 4g
McDonald's French Fries -- 4g
Wendy's French Fries -- 7g
Burger King's French Fries -- 7g

But, if you really want to make your Arteries Groan:

Red Lobster Admiral's Feast -- 26g of Trans Fat

When I was a little kid, I would eat at McDonald's occassionally [but not too often.] But, at that time, they still fried in Beef Tallow and Lard. But, in late 80s/early 90s...groups like CSPI got McDonald's to stop using Animal Fats. Now, were stuck with this Trans-Fat crap they have now. I wish they'd just go back to Beef Tallow and Lard. Foods fried in them tasted just fine to me and I could have them as an occassional treat. I won't touch anything Fried at McDonald's as long as they're using Vegetable Shortening.

As someone who has an allergy to vegetable oils and soy I DREAM of the day we go back to regular lard. my taco place fries in it and the amount that it gets onto your food just isn't enough to worry about. Heck those freakish "fake" fats are worse for you anyway!

I'm confused. My understanding from Dr. Schwarzbein and Udo Erasmus is that the Omega fats are damaged by high heat, creating trans fats. So it is likely that as Lisa says, the high heats are causing the trans fats. Even trans-fat free margarine can become a trans fat if it is used to cook.

I just searched my book. Pg. 106 of FTH,FTK mentions: "trans-fatty acids are produced by high temperatures and hydrogenation". Pg. 110, under food sources mentions that 95% of trans fats consumed come from hydrogenated vegetable products and the rest from animal products.

Dr. Schwarzbein mentions that meat, eggs and butter cooked at high temps create trans fats. They should be cooked at low temperatures b/c they do contain some polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Eating meats and eggs don't protect us from trans fats, but eating whole foods (this does NOT include LC or HC junk food) protects us from MOST trans fats. We can't totally eliminate trans fats from our diet, so the moral of the story is to make an antioxidant a regular supplement to your diet.

Wanda

CLA was discovered when a scientists was working on how meat's natural carcinogens are handled in the body. So I take it every day. This is one reason why!