Fat provides much of the flavor in the foods we love. Manufacturers have to replace the flavor loss in reduced-fat foods to make them palatable. Often, that something else is as bad as or worse than the fat it replaces. Do you crave plain baked potatoes, or is the potato really just a carrier for butter, sour cream, bacon and cheese? You’ll probably agree that the potato (with no fat) is just a carrier for “the good stuff”—mostly fats.
Replacing fats with other harmful ingredients provides a net gain of zero, zip, nada—at best! At worst, these flavor enhancers cause even more damage than the fat they’re replacing. When you read ingredient lists, “ingredients are listed in order of predominance, with the ingredients used in the greatest amount first, followed in descending order by those in smaller amounts,” as required by the FDA. Trace ingredients are not even listed.
