The least seed oil Halloween
Halloween candy is mostly sugar, so the polyunsaturated fat is small. The peanut and nut bars come out higher, and the dinner before trick-or-treating and the baked treats matter more than the bowl. Know the numbers, then pick the easy ones.
New to seed oils? Start with what they are, then come back.
One trick-or-treat night, two ways
One serving of each:
- Chili, 1.5 cups
- Mac and cheese, 1 cup
- Brownies, 1 brownie
- Stovetop popcorn, 3 cups
Our estimates: each dish from the table the app's Cook at home screen uses, once with a vegetable oil blend and once with a better fat for that dish.
The candy bowl, an ounce at a time
Lowest to highest polyunsaturated fat per serving. These are USDA measurements (an ounce each) and one printed label for candy corn, from our grocery data. A number is grams of polyunsaturated fat, which is the app's measure, so it also counts the fat that comes from the peanuts themselves.
- Candy corn, 39g: 0.0 gFrom the label
- Skittles, 1 oz (28g): 0.0 gUSDA
- Starburst fruit chews, 1 oz (28g): 0.0 gUSDA
- Tootsie Roll, 1 oz (28g): 0.1 gUSDA
- Milky Way bar, 1 oz (28g): 0.1 gUSDA
- Kit Kat bar, 1 oz (28g): 0.3 gUSDA
- M&M's milk chocolate, 1 oz (28g): 0.3 gUSDA
- Milk chocolate, 1 oz (28g): 0.4 gUSDA
- Reese's Pieces, 1 oz (28g): 0.5 gUSDA
- Baby Ruth bar, 1 oz (28g): 0.7 gUSDA
- Snickers bar, 1 oz (28g): 0.8 gUSDA
- Butterfinger bar, 1 oz (28g): 0.9 gUSDA
- Peanut M&M's, 1 oz (28g): 1.0 gUSDA
- Mr. Goodbar, 1 oz (28g): 1.2 gUSDA
- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, 1 oz (28g): 1.5 gUSDA
- Reese's Nutrageous bar, 1 oz (28g): 2.3 gUSDA
The fruit candies and chews are 0.0 g to 0.1 g. Plain milk chocolate is 0.4 g. The peanut bars climb: peanut butter cups 1.5 g and the nutrageous bar 2.3 g.
A fun size bar is smaller than the ounce listed, so one bar is less. Want more label checks? See the grocery aisles ranked and the skip this, pick this swaps.
Popcorn
Popcorn is the snack where the oil is the whole story. USDA measurements, an ounce each:
- Popcorn, air-popped, 1 oz (28g): 0.6 gUSDA
- Caramel popcorn with peanuts, 1 oz (28g): 0.9 gUSDA
- Popcorn, oil-popped microwave, 1 oz (28g): 6.5 gUSDA
Air-popped is 0.6 g, caramel popcorn with peanuts 0.9 g and oil-popped microwave 6.5 g. At home, three cups popped in a vegetable oil blend are 5.5 g and 0.7 g popped in coconut oil (our estimate).
Dinner before the doorbell, and the baking
| Dish | Serving | With vegetable oil or margarine | With butter | Where it hides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chili | 1.5 cups | 4.0 g | 2.0 g (olive oil) | the oil the meat and onions are browned in |
| Homemade pizza | 1 slice | 4.8 g | 1.8 g (olive oil) | oil in the dough and on the pan |
| Mac and cheese | 1 cup | 3.1 g | 0.7 g | margarine in the sauce |
| Grilled cheese | 1 sandwich | 5.3 g | 1.7 g | margarine or oil on the bread |
| Sloppy joe | 1 sandwich | 3.1 g | 1.9 g | the oil the beef is browned in |
| Brownies | 1 brownie | 5.5 g | 0.7 g | vegetable oil in the batter |
| Chocolate chip cookies | 2 cookies | 4.4 g | 0.8 g | margarine or shortening in the dough |
| Pumpkin pie | 1 slice | 3.1 g | 0.7 g | the shortening in the crust |
| Banana bread | 1 slice | 5.8 g | 1.0 g | vegetable oil in the batter |
| Cheesecake | 1 slice | 3.3 g | 0.9 g | margarine in the crust |
| Stovetop popcorn | 3 cups | 5.5 g | 0.7 g (coconut oil) | the popping oil |
Our estimates, worked the way the app's Cook at home screen works them. The better fat is named in brackets, or butter where none is.
The easy swap is the fat
Brownies, cookies and the pie crust start with a spread or an oil. A tablespoon of each, from the USDA and the product's label:
- Butter, 1 tbsp: 0.5 gUSDA
- Soft margarine (80% vegetable oil), 1 Tbsp (14 g): 6.0 gFrom the label
Butter is 0.5 g and soft margarine 6.0 g. Bake with butter and the treats drop a lot.
Pumpkin season at the coffee counter
Grams come from each chain's own nutrition guide. The drinks are mostly milk and syrup, so they are low; the pumpkin bread, muffins and rolls are where the number is.
Five easy Halloween swaps
- Pick the lighter bars for the bowl: a plain ounce of milk chocolate is 0.4 g and a wafer bar 0.3 g, against 1.5 g for peanut butter cups.
- Pop the corn yourself: air-popped is 0.6 g an ounce, against 6.5 g for the oil-popped microwave kind.
- Make the pre-trick-or-treat dinner simple: chili is 4.0 g in a vegetable oil blend and 2.0 g with olive oil, and mac and cheese 3.1 g against 0.7 g with butter (our estimates).
- Bake with butter: brownies are 5.5 g the usual way and 0.7 g with butter (our estimate).
- At the coffee counter, pick the drink over the pumpkin bread: at Starbucks the pumpkin spice latte is 0.8 g and the pumpkin loaf 8.4 g.
Then next January: Half by February
When you want a plan, the four week plan to cut your seed oil in half is in the app every January. See the plan.
Download for iPhone Get it on Google Play
Free to download.
Common questions
Which Halloween candy has the most seed oil?
By the USDA numbers the peanut bars come out highest in polyunsaturated fat: an ounce of the nutrageous bar is 2.3 g and an ounce of peanut butter cups 1.5 g, against 0.0 g for fruit chews. Part of that is the peanuts themselves. See what counts as a seed oil.
Is candy corn a seed oil problem?
Its label shows 0.0 g of polyunsaturated fat for the serving listed. See more skip this, pick this swaps.
Are the restaurant numbers exact?
They are worked out from each chain's own published nutrition, item by item. Long-press any item in the app to see how. See how the numbers work.
Does the app cost anything?
The tracker is free. You can download Seed Oil Tracker for free, and logging your meals, the restaurant report cards, the order builder, the barcode scanner and your goal plan all stay free. Premium is optional. It adds a few extras and helps support the project.
More guides
Seed Oil Tracker doesn't tell you what to eat. It shows you the grams so you can pick your own number. Curious about the research? Read the studies on both sides.