gistfile1.txt

  foreach ($items as $delta => $item) {
// suppress all children so this field is not rendered
    if ($field['type'] == 'list_boolean') {
      $classes_array[] = drupal_html_class($field['settings']['allowed_values'][$item['value']]);
    }
    elseif ($field['type'] == 'taxonomy_term_reference') {
      $tids[] = $item['tid']; //store the terms ids and just do taxonomy_term_load_multiple once at the end
    }
    else {
      $classes_array[] = drupal_html_class($item['value']);
    }
  }

function drupal_html_class($class) {
// The output of this function will never change, so this uses a normal
// static instead of drupal_static().
static $classes = array();

if (!isset($classes[$class])) {
$classes[$class] = drupal_clean_css_identifier(drupal_strtolower($class));
}
return $classes[$class];
}