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Balanced diet - Health - Biology - FuseSchoolImportance of balanced fat intake -
There are some ways that we can reduce our intake of saturated fats and replace with small amounts of unsaturated fats as part of a healthy, balanced diet. The UK Eatwell Guide encourages us to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
These foods tend to be high in calories, if they are included in the diet they should only be eaten less often and in smaller amounts. Make some small changes to the foods and drinks you include in your diet to save on saturated fat.
Lean cuts of meat, lean mince, chicken without skin, fish especially oily fish such as trout, salmon or mackerel. If you do roast or fry foods, add minimal fat and choose an unsaturated fat or oil to cook with such as olive, rapeseed or sunflower oil.
Oils rich in unsaturated fatty acids such as olive, rapeseed or sunflower oils and spreads made with these. If you want to include these foods in your diet, do so in small amounts. Top wholegrain breakfast cereal with chopped fruit, and use lower-fat unsaturated spread on wholegrain or wholemeal toast.
Make your own salad dressings from ingredients like balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, a dash of olive oil and herbs. Take a look at the Choose your fats wisely guide below for more tips on choosing the best oils for cooking and flavouring your food.
How can I tell if a food is high in fat or saturated fat? Food labels on the front of packs can be a useful tool to help us identify whether foods are high red , medium amber or low green in fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt see example shown right.
This is the maximum amount that adults should have each day see below and is not intended as a target that needs to be met. Remember that foods that are lower in fat or reduced fat are not necessarily low in fat overall.
For example, if the type of food is generally high in fat such as mayonnaise , the lower or reduced fat version may still be a high-fat food, for example reduced fat mayonnaise contains less fat than standard mayonnaise but still has a red traffic light for total fat.
For more information on food labels read our pages on food labelling. Answers to common questions on fats and oils and health. Coconut oil has become popular as a cooking ingredient, but it is very high in saturated fat — it actually contains more than butter!
Therefore, coconut oil should be consumed less often and in small amounts. Learn more about coconut oil in our answers to some common questions about coconut oil. In the past, it was thought that eating foods containing cholesterol for example eggs, liver, kidney and shellfish such as prawns and crab would raise our blood cholesterol.
However, the amount of saturated fat in the diet has much more of an impact on blood cholesterol levels than cholesterol in foods. So, there is no need to avoid or minimise these foods with respect to your cholesterol unless you have been advised otherwise by a health professional.
Although most of the fat in dairy foods is saturated fat, more evidence is emerging that dairy foods may actually reduce the risk of heart disease.
Because many UK adults are overweight or obese, lower fat dairy can be important for weight control. I've heard oily fish is good for me, but I don't eat it - should I take fish oil supplements?
A review of the health benefits of taking fish oil or omega-3 supplements found that they did not have an effect, although there was some evidence of a slight reduction in coronary events or death those caused by illness of the arteries that supply the heart and that DHA and EPA may reduce triglycerides a type of fat in the blood.
Oily fish such as salmon, mackerel and trout is the best source of the long-chain omega-3 fats EPA and DHA, which are associated with heart health benefits, because it also provides important nutrients such as protein and minerals.
It is recommended that we aim to consume at least two portions of fish per week, one of which should be an oily fish. If you do not like or do not eat oily fish, you can get omega-3 fats from other plant foods see above.
However, these are shorter chain omega-3 fats, such as ALA, and only a small amount can be converted in the body into the long-chain omega-3 forms - the type that is thought to be most beneficial for health.
Although vegans and vegetarians have lower intakes of long-chain omega-3 fats than people who eat fish, there is no strong evidence that they have poorer health as a result. If you do choose to take a supplement, go for a fish oil or an omega-3 oil rather than fish or cod liver oil that provides about mg EPA and DHA per daily dose.
Take care with vitamin A — if your omega-3 oil supplement contains vitamin A you should not have more than a total of 1. If you are pregnant, trying for a baby or breastfeeding, avoid any supplements containing vitamin A also called retinol. You can also get supplements suitable for vegans containing long-chain omega-3s from microalgae.
If you have a more general query, please contact us. Please note that advice provided on our website about nutrition and health is general in nature. We do not provide any personal advice on prevention, treatment and management for patients or their family members.
If you would like a response, please contact us. We do not provide any individualised advice on prevention, treatment and management for patients or their family members.
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Health professional. Enlarge Text A A. Fat in a healthy diet. The article looks at: What is fat and what are the different types? How much fat should we eat, and how much are we currently eating in the UK? Health concerns around fats Making better choices with the fats in our diet How can I tell if a food is high in fat or saturated fat?
Answers to some common questions around fats and oils and health If you are looking for some key points on fat in a healthy diet, see our Quick facts.
What is fat and what are the different types? Saturated fats Knowing the kinds of foods that contain high amounts of saturated fat — and those that do not — is a good way to make choices when it comes to planning a healthy diet. Foods that are high in saturated fats include: fatty cuts of meat and processed meat products like bacon, sausages and salami cheese, especially hard cheese like Cheddar cream, crème fraiche and soured cream butter, ghee, suet, lard coconut oil and palm oil coconut milk and cream ice cream cakes, biscuits and pastries, like pies, sausage rolls and croissants savoury cheese flavoured crackers or twists chocolate and chocolate spreads.
Unsaturated fats Replacing saturated fats in our diet with unsaturated fats can help to maintain healthy cholesterol levels. Monounsaturated fats Replacing saturated fats in our diet with monounsaturated fats can help to decrease levels of total cholesterol and harmful LDL-cholesterol.
Monounsaturated fats are found in: olive and rapeseed oils and spreads made from them olives avocados nuts and seeds such as almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, pine nuts and sesame seeds and spreads or pastes made from them like nut butter or tahini.
The fat content of different types of nuts is shown in Table 1 on the right. Polyunsaturated fats are found in: some vegetable oils and spreads made from them including corn, sunflower and sesame flaxseeds, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds walnuts, pine nuts oily fish including mackerel, salmon, trout, herring and sardines.
Omega-6 fats One type of omega-6 fat called linoleic acid is an essential fatty acid, which means that our bodies cannot make it from other fats and so we must get it from our diet. Omega-3 fats The most important omega-3 fats are the long chain omega-3 fats like eicosapentaenoic acid EPA and docosahexaenoic acid DHA which may help lower our risk of heart disease, and also contribute to normal visual and brain development in babies during pregnancy.
Examples of plant food sources of omega-3 fats include: some seeds such as flax and chia seeds oils such as flaxseed, rapeseed walnuts and walnut oil soybeans and soybean oil However, these are a short chain omega-3 fats known as α-linolenic acid ALA.
Health concerns around fats Does fat in the diet make you put on weight? Table 2. UK dietary fat recommendations and intakes in the UK.
Making better choices with the fats in our diets There are some ways that we can reduce our intake of saturated fats and replace with small amounts of unsaturated fats as part of a healthy, balanced diet. Eat foods high in saturated fat less often and in smaller amounts The UK Eatwell Guide encourages us to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat as part of a healthy, balanced diet.
Make some simple swaps Make some small changes to the foods and drinks you include in your diet to save on saturated fat.
Cook with olive, rapeseed or sunflower oils Use unsaturated fat spreads instead of butter on bread, toast and in cooking Pastries and croissants at breakfast Plain wholegrain breakfast cereal or wholegrain or wholemeal toast Top wholegrain breakfast cereal with chopped fruit, and use lower-fat unsaturated spread on wholegrain or wholemeal toast Creamy salad dressings Non-creamy salad dressings such as vinaigrette Make your own salad dressings from ingredients like balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, a dash of olive oil and herbs Take a look at the Choose your fats wisely guide below for more tips on choosing the best oils for cooking and flavouring your food.
Answers to common questions on fats and oils and health Is coconut oil good for me? What about cholesterol in foods?
Are dairy foods bad for my heart? It is these trans fats produced during food manufacturing that we should be most concerned about, not the small amounts of trans fats naturally found in healthy foods like low-fat dairy products and lean meats.
Although foods can contain a mixture of different types of fat, they generally contain one main group of fat. Saturated fat sources include:. Plant sterols are components in all plants that are very similar in structure to human cholesterol. However, it is hard to eat this amount of plant sterols from natural sources, so there are now plant sterol-enriched margarine and dairy products on the market.
Eating 1 to 1. Fatty acids are a component of dietary fats that are necessary for vital functions in our bodies. There are 2 essential polyunsaturated fatty acids — omega-3 and omega Essential means our bodies cannot create these fatty acids, so we must consume them in our diet.
Omega-3 fatty acids are found in both plant and marine foods, although it is the omega-3 fatty acids from marine sources that have the strongest evidence for health benefits including reducing the risk of heart disease.
Plant food sources include canola and soy oils, canola-based margarine and seeds. Marine sources include fish, especially oily fish such as Atlantic salmon, mackerel, Southern blue fin tuna, trevally and sardines.
Omega-6 fatty acids are mainly found in nuts, seeds and plant oils such as olive, corn, soy and safflower. Olive oil is produced by the pressing or crushing of olive fruit.
It comes in different grades, depending on the amount of processing involved. There are unrefined virgin grades and refined grades.
The less the oil is refined by heat and chemical treatments, the higher the quality of the oil. Olive oil is an important source of omega-6 fatty acids and antioxidants , which are beneficial for overall health and can reduce risk of cardiovascular disease.
Virgin varieties of olive oil are believed to offer the greatest health benefits as they retain most of the healthy compounds from the olive fruit. Varieties include: Extra virgin oil. Researchers are investigating the possibility that a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil , may be protective against the development of coronary heart disease.
People who have a high consumption of monounsaturated fats from olive oil for example, in Greece and Italy tend to have low rates of coronary heart disease, regardless of their body weight.
Olive oil contains many compounds that are beneficial to human health, including omega-6 fatty acids, plant sterols and phenolic compounds, which seem to possess strong antioxidant properties. Because of these compounds, olive oil consumption may have a protective role against development of breast, colon, lung, ovarian and skin cancers.
Several studies have also shown that olive oil may have additional beneficial effects on blood pressure, obesity , rheumatoid arthritis and immune function. However, the Mediterranean diet contains much more than olive oil. Choosing extra virgin olive oil as your main source of dietary fat, as well as eating a healthy and balanced diet high in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grain breads and cereals, may reduce your risk of chronic disease development and increase your life expectancy.
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Antioxidants scavenge free radicals from the body's cells, and prevent or reduce the damage caused by oxidation.
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Dietary fat. Actions for this page Listen Print. Summary Read the full fact sheet. On this page. About dietary fat Energy density of dietary fat Dietary fats and our blood cholesterol Types of dietary fats Sources of dietary fat Plant sterols can lower cholesterol Fatty acids are essential in our diet Olive oil Current recommendations on fats in your diet Where to get help.
About dietary fat Foods and drinks contain nutrients such as carbohydrates , proteins , fats, vitamins and minerals. Dietary fats and our blood cholesterol The 2 types of blood cholesterol are low density lipoprotein LDL cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein HDL cholesterol.
Types of dietary fats Dietary fat can be classified into 4 types. These are: saturated monounsaturated polyunsaturated trans. Each type of fat behaves differently inside the body. For example, choose: reduced-fat milk, yoghurt and cheese leaner cuts of meat or trim the fat off meat prior to cooking.
For example: replace butter with olive oil or margarine replace potato chips or chocolate with plain nuts as a healthier snack alternative replace fried fast food with a sandwich or wrap made with lean meat and salad. Limit trans fats Trans fats tend to behave like saturated fats in the body, as they raise blood LDL cholesterol levels and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart disease and stroke.
Sources of dietary fat Although foods can contain a mixture of different types of fat, they generally contain one main group of fat.
Saturated fat sources include: fatty cuts of meat full-fat milk, cheese, butter, cream most commercially baked products such as biscuits and pastries most deep-fried fast foods coconut and palm oil. Monounsaturated fat sources include: avocado, nuts such as peanuts, hazelnuts, cashews and almonds — including peanut and other nut butters margarine spreads such as canola or olive oil-based choices oils such as olive, canola and peanut.
Polyunsaturated fat sources include: fish and seafood polyunsaturated margarine vegetable oils such as safflower, sunflower, corn or soy oils nuts such as walnuts and Brazil nuts and seeds. Plant sterols can lower cholesterol Plant sterols are components in all plants that are very similar in structure to human cholesterol.
Fatty acids are essential in our diet Fatty acids are a component of dietary fats that are necessary for vital functions in our bodies.
Official websites use. gov A. gov website belongs to Artichoke cooking techniques official government organization in bqlanced United States. Importance of balanced fat intake website. Share sensitive intakee only on official, secure websites. Fats are an important part of your diet but some types are healthier than others. Choosing healthy fats from vegetable sources more often than less healthy types from animal products can help lower your risk for heart attack, stroke, and other major health problems. Print this issue. Many of these Impirtance, though, can baoanced high in fat. Importance of balanced fat intake which fats are naughty and which are Importancee to your health. Then you can make smarter food choices. We need a certain amount of fat in our diets to stay healthy. Fats provide needed energy in the form of calories. Fats help our bodies absorb important vitamins—called fat-soluble vitamins—including vitamins A, D and E.
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