One Of The Unhealthiest Tortilla Chips You Can Buy Is A Spicy Staple

There is a lot to love about tortilla chips, starting with the fact that they're usually the perfect vehicle for a delicious, fresh homemade salsa or your favorite, go-to guacamole. When Takis hit the market in 1999 (and you can check out our ultimate guide to Takis here), they changed the game with an overload of spice rolled up in an ultra-crispy package. They're not what we're referring to when we talk about one of the unhealthiest tortilla chips that you can buy, however, and we're actually looking in the direction of Trader Joe's Chili Lime Tortilla Chips (which happen to be a Takis copycat).

These chips are undeniably delicious, but that's arguably part of the problem. Check out the serving size on a bag, and you'll see that it's only 15 chips — realistically, that's not much, especially if you're snacking your way through a movie. With that single serving size comes 8 grams of fat, and the source of that fat can be problematic for a few reasons.

Go to the ingredient list, and you'll find the second ingredient — after corn — is vegetable oil, which is broken down into high-oleic sunflower oil, high-oleic safflower oil, and canola oil. Although high-oleic oils can be considered heart-healthy, it's possible to get too much of a good thing — and that's not the only concern that comes with these chips.

In moderation, sunflower, safflower, and canola oils have been linked to a number of health benefits, including the maintenance of hair, skin, and bones. There are, however, some major concerns that go along with both consuming too much of these oils, and consuming oils that have been subjected to high temperatures and processing.

All three types of oils have been linked to chronic inflammation, which in turn has been connected to a higher risk of conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and even certain types of cancers. Some studies have also linked canola oil with having a negative impact on memory as well as heart health, and as of this writing, the general consensus is that more scientific research needs to be done to find out just what the risks are.

In the meantime, there's also the sodium content of Trader Joe's Chili Lime Tortilla Chips to consider. One serving contains 260 milligrams of sodium, and sodium intake is a major concern for many Americans — most of who get much more than the ideal limit of 1,500 milligrams per day. That helps to put the sodium in a single serving size of chips into context, so while these might be a spicy staple, they're also one of Daily Meal's unhealthiest store-bought tortilla chips.