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albanian albanian
 
M$1 July 10, 2009 05:59 PM

How much fat is there in canned spinach?

Don't just tell me what it says on the first site you google, or read the first can label. I've done more than that. The issue is this. I happen to like canned spinach, and I actually read nutrition labels fairly regularly. The other day there were five brands of canned spinach in my kitchen and I compared them. They all said they were just spinach, salt, and water. 4 brands said there was no fat, the other said it had 1 gram per serving. Browsing the net, I see most sites listing no fat, another saying .5 gram. One slightly more technical site breaks it down by saying there are some fatty acids in the spinach.
So my question is what is going on? They are all commercial, US grown spinach. Who writes the labels and are they checked up on by someone? Can I believe the numbers on these or other cans? Do I have to take the amount of salt with a grain of salt, so to speak?

(before you ask, yes I drink beer with my spinach. Preferably a hoppy ale. Definitely no fat or salt in that!)
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ssmacd ssmacd
 
 July 10, 2009 06:33 PM
Canning itself does not add any fat to the spinach. So whatever is there is in the spinach naturally. Spinach is an EXTREMELY low fat food.

Nutrition data.com shows 0 grams of fat, making up 1% of the RDA for fat-- meaning that there are less than .49 grams of fat in a 180 gram serving. If the nutrition info on your can was for more than a 180 gram serving, it might push the fat content over the .5 mark, which, when rounded would show 1 gram of fat.

I think the discrepancies you're seeing on the cans is to do serving size and rounding policies.

I wouldn't worry about the fat content-- spinach is a nice complement to grilled sausage-- which goes really well with beer-- although sausage DOES have a significant fat content.
Asker's Rating:
• I was ready to accept rounding as an answer when I went back and looked again at the surviving cans. I had been looking at the fat; but, the other numbers were different too! Popeye's claimed twice the protein and 3 times the vitamin A. Delmonte had twice the sodium. Now I'm wondering if there are different varieties of spinach with different nutrition values, or if the labeling standards are loose.


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albanian albanian
 
July 10, 2009 06:50 PM
I'm not really worried so much about the fat as the general accuracy of the labels. Perhaps you are right and the amount is around .5 gram with most companies rounding down, one rounding up, and one not rounding.

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krysstel krysstel
 
July 10, 2009 06:20 PM
very interesting
fat content must vary with the tests, how it was grown and various factors, would be my guess...

Statistics surveys numbers polls
Nothing says it better than this book
“How to Lie with Statistics” ... a Classic!

http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/039309426X

Tags: food, spinach

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changes changes
 
July 11, 2009 01:58 AM
Hi

According to the Nutrition Almanac (Nutrition Search, Inc), the food composition of spinich is as follows:

Spinach Measure Saturated Fat Unsaturated Fat Mg Salt/Sodium
Raw 1 cup 0 0 39
Cooked 1 cup 0 0 90
Canned 1 cup 0 0 484
New Zealand, 3.5 oz 0 0 159
Raw
New Zealand, 1 cup 0 0 166
Cooked

Looking at these statistics I must conclude that (depending on the brand) they are using some kind of oil/butter when they cook the spinach to prevent sticking. Otherwise, spinach doesn't have any fat, saturated or unsaturated.
Source(s):
Nutrition Almanac (Nutrition Search, Inc) Revised edition


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albanian albanian
 
July 11, 2009 02:12 AM
I'm pretty sure they would have to say if there was butter. Besides, I'm also pretty sure it's just boiled.

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pawsalmigh... pawsalmigh...
 
July 11, 2009 11:02 AM
I think a normal serving size would be considered as no fat, however if you eat a larger portion then there might be a negligible amount of fat in that, but only from the fatty acids like you said.

don't worry, spinach won't make you fat! Unless you make creamed spinach or smother it in butter lol

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