Fats & Oils

Dietary Fats

Fat is an important component of our daily diet. The types and amounts of fat that we eat can impact our health since some are beneficial to our health and some are not. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are often referred to as “good” fats because they have properties that promote health. They help maintain healthy levels of blood cholesterol, for example, when they are used in place of the “bad” fats, saturated and trans fat, which have properties that can impair health.

Although crucial to a satisfying and healthy diet, fats must be consumed in the context of a healthy diet and lifestyle which is balanced in calories and exercise to maintain a healthy weight. About a third of the energy that we eat each day comes from fat. The 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines recommend that we “keep total fat intake between 20-35 percent of calories,” whereas the American Heart Association (AHA)recommends a range “less than 25–35 percent of your total calories each day.” AHA also recommends that Americans “limit saturated fat intake to less than 7 percent” and trans fat “to less than 1 percent of total daily calories.” When eating according to these recommendations, up to 50% of the fat we eat should be monounsaturated.

Liquid vegetable oils, such as canola, corn, olive, safflower, sunflower, soybean, corn, safflower, and peanut are high in various levels of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. New-generation frying oils such as, Omega-9 canola and sunflower oils, also called high stability or high-oleic oils, are very high in monounsaturated fat, whereas other new generation frying oils such as, low linolenic soybean are higher in polyunsaturated fatty acids. Frying with these healthy oils is a way to meet health recommendations and to maintain healthy dietary patterns while eating more foods away from home.