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Some fast foods sold in Canada contain levels of trans fats that are among the highest in the world, according to research commissioned by The Globe and Mail and CTV News.

But, at the same time, the tests show that some fast-food makers have virtually eliminated trans fats, making them among the world leaders in the battle to purge these artery-clogging fats from the Western diet.

A kids' meal of chicken nuggets and French fries purchased at a KFC outlet in Toronto, for example, contained a whopping 18.6 grams of trans fats.

A near-identical meal of chicken nuggets and fries purchased at a McDonald's outlet in Vancouver, by contrast, contained only 1.8 grams of trans fats.

The Burger King version of chicken nuggets and fries weighed in with a hefty 13 grams of trans fats at a Toronto outlet, while the same meal at Wendy's in Vancouver contained 3.1 grams of trans fats.

"Why is one company able to put out a very low trans product and the competition cannot or chooses not to?" wondered Bruce Holub, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ont.

Eliminating trans fats, he said "is doable and, because it's doable, they should all be doing it."

Trans fats are formed when oil is partially hydrogenated -- a process by which liquid oil is made into semi-solid fats like shortening and hard margarine. Partially hydrogenated oils are used in processed foods to increase shelf life and improve taste.

To date, only one country, Denmark, has banned trans fats. In Canada and the United States, labelling of packaged goods for trans-fat content is mandatory, but that rule does not extend to restaurant food.

A study published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that levels of trans fats varied markedly among countries, even when identical products were compared.

Canada was not included in that study, so The Globe and Mail and CTV conducted similar tests to see how Canada fared, and asked the original researchers to comment on the findings.

"I was surprised to find so many foods in Canada with such high levels of trans," said Steen Stender, a cardiologist at Gentofte University Hospital in Hellerup, Denmark, and former head of the Danish Nutrition Council.

Among 21 countries where fast foods were tested, only the KFC chicken and fries in Poland and Hungary featured higher levels of trans fats than in Canada, he noted.

But in Germany, Russia, Denmark and Scotland, the same KFC meal contained less than one gram of trans fats.

"It's such an easy risk factor to remove," Dr. Stender said. Doing so does not appear to alter taste dramatically or markedly affect the cost, he added.

The tests showed remarkably wide variations from country to country and even from city to city within Canada.

In the coming days, a federal task force is slated to issue recommendations on what to do with trans fats -- whether they should be banned outright or stricter labelling rules should be introduced.

Trans fats have attracted the attention of scientists and lawmakers alike because regular consumption appears to dramatically increase the risk of heart disease. Consumption of just five grams a day increases the risk of heart disease by almost 20 per cent.

KFC declined to comment on the findings, as did Burger King.

Of monkeys and midriff bulge

Monkeys fed a diet high in trans fats gained much more weight that those fed the same number of calories but healthier types of fat, a new study has found.

What's more, the extra pounds were deposited around the belly in "dramatic levels," according to researchers.

"Diets rich in trans fat cause a redistribution of fat tissue into the abdomen and led to higher body weight even when total dietary calories are controlled," said Lawrence Rudel, head of the lipid sciences research program at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"What it says is that trans fat is worse than anticipated," he said.

The research was presented this week at the scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association conference in Washington.

Canadians are the world's biggest consumers of trans-fatty acids, ingesting about 10 grams a day on average.

For the study, researchers fed two groups of male monkeys a Western-style human diet, with carefully controlled caloric intake, and 35 per cent of calories from fat.

The only difference between the two groups is that one group of monkeys got 8 per cent of its calories from trans fats, while the other group got those calories from monounsaturated fats (these so-called good fats come from natural products such as olive oil).

After six years, the monkeys who had trans fats in their diet had an average 7.2 per cent increase in body weight; the monkeys who did not consume trans fats saw their weight increase on average by only 1.8 per cent.

-- André Picard

Wide differences

Grams of trans fat per large serving**

KFC

Toronto

French fries: 9

Chicken nuggets*: 9.6

Vancouver

French fries: 4.5

Chicken nuggets*: 3.3

Burger King

Toronto

French fries: 8

Chicken nuggets*: 5

Vancouver

French fries: 5.4

Chicken nuggets*: 2.4

Wendy's

Toronto

French fries: 3.1

Chicken nuggets*: 2.4

Vancouver

French fries: 2.3

Chicken nuggets*: 0.8

McDonald's

Toronto

French fries: 1.7

Chicken nuggets*: 0.8

Vancouver

French fries: 1.5

Chicken nuggets*: 0.3

*Deep fried chicken pieces are known as Popcorn Chicken at KFC; Crispy Chicken Nuggets At Wendy's; Chicken McNuggets at McDonald's; Chicken Tenders at Burger King.

**A large serving of fries is 170 grams and a large serving of chicken nuggets is 160 grams.

SOURCE: INDUSTRIAL LABORATORIES OF CANADA