SOUTH SEFTON DIABETES GROUP

Fats & Oils

• Spreadable fats and oils provide energy, fat-soluble vitamins and essential fatty acids
• Fats of animal origin tend to be rich in saturates
• Oils and margarine of vegetable origin tend to be rich in unsaturated fat
• High fat diets, especially those high in saturated fats, are linked to heart disease
• Cut back on fats and oils in the diet, and use unsaturated vegetable or seed oils and margarine instead of butter and lard

This food group includes all the margarines, low fat spreads, cooking oils and butter. The range of fat spreads and oils seems to increase daily and all the labelling claims can be very confusing. The following information should help you make some healthy decisions concerning fats.

Fat Facts

Fat gets an awful lot of bad press but it is important to remember two things: firstly, some fat in the diet is essential, and secondly, the word 'fat' covers several sorts of fat, some of which are beneficial for health.

Fat is the most energy rich nutrient and sometimes this is a benefit - for example babies and toddlers need energy rich diets to fuel their growth. Fat also makes food smell and taste good (a problem when you're trying to cut down!), but most importantly, fat 'carries' vitamins (A, D, E and K) and supplies us with 'essential fatty acids', important substances the body cannot make itself.

There are 4 main types of fat in spreads and oils:- saturated fat, mono- unsaturated fat, poly-unsaturated fat and trans fats.

Saturated Fats
Fats of animal origin (dairy, butter, lard, suet) consist of mainly saturated fat. Saturated fat in the diet has a strong blood cholesterol raising effect and is therefore a risk factor in coronary heart disease. In particular, saturated fat raises blood LDL-cholesterol, the 'bad' cholesterol.

Mono-unsaturated Fats (MUFAs)
Olive and rapeseed oils are rich sources of MUFAs. These fats make a good substitute for saturated fats as they do not significantly influence blood cholesterol levels. The Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil and is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease.

Poly-unsaturated Fats (PUFAs)
These are found in fats produced from nuts and seeds such as safflower, corn, walnut and sunflower oils. In addition, omega-3 PUFAs are found in fatty fish oils. Essential fatty acids are part of the PUFA group and omega-3 PUFAs have powerful anti-blood clotting effects; this helps protect against heart disease.

Trans Fats
These are found in hard margarine and are formed when liquid vegetable oils are hydrogenated to make them solid and hard. Trans fats have a similar effect to saturated fat as they raise LDL-cholesterol and lower 'good' HDL- cholesterol.

We all eat these 4 types of fat in our diets. Healthy eating doesn't mean completely cutting fat out of the diet but we need to eat a balanced amount of the right fats.

Fat in the Diet
The Government recommends that we get no more than 35% of our food energy from fats. In the West, we currently get around 40% from fat, so we all need to cut back and eat more carbohydrate foods for energy instead.

Of the fat we eat, no more than one third should be saturated, and we should increase omega-3 PUFA intakes to 1.5g per week (that's the equivalent of eating one portion of oily fish once a week).

Fat Spreads and Oils in a Healthy Diet

Look at the food pyramid to see how fat spreads and oils fit into a healthy diet.

Spreadable fats and oils make a large contribution to our total fat intake so it's important to tackle them, and making small changes could produce substantial health benefits:

• Use all fats and oils sparingly: spread thinly on bread and don't drown your baked potato in butter! This will cut back on your total fat intake.
• Switch saturated animal fats for unsaturated vegetable fats; i.e. try and cut back on butter and lard and opt for an olive oil or sunflower margarine. This will reduce your saturated fat intake.
• Beware of coconut oil; it's the vegetable oil exception as it is rich in saturated fat.
• Grill, boil, or steam foods rather than frying them so you don't add any more fat to them in cooking.