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Ever wonder what your French fries were fried in? Like bumbling burglars who leave fingerprints¹ at a crime scene, cooking oils leave their own clues. And by measuring the carbon isotopes² in French fries, University of Hawaii researchers found that one oil tops all others as the choice to fry fries in: corn oil. That’s according to a report in the Proceedings³ of the National Academy of Sciences.

National chain restaurants typically reveal only that fries may contain one or more of the following oils: corn, canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower and palm. But consumers might like a little more info: in a meal of burger, fries and soda⁴, 20 percent of the total calories come from the oil that fried the potatoes.

Analyzing⁵ fries from nearly 200 Hawaiian restaurants, the scientists found that 69 percent of the national chain outlets⁶ used corn oil, compared with just 20 percent of independent eateries.

Corn oil is probably the least healthy of the oils mentioned, with more harmful saturated⁷ fats than canola or sunflower and fewer heart-healthy compounds than soybean. Of course, regardless of what they’re fried in, French fries probably aren’t on your diet. Then again, you’re probably not on your diet either.