Macronutrient – Fats

Fats form part of the macronutrients within the diet that the body needs on a daily basis along with proteins and carbohydrates. Fats are essential to health and are the most energy dense form of macronutrient that we eat, 9kcal of energy per gram of fat. This compared to 4kcal for both carbs and protein shows that we get over double the amount of energy per gram of fat eaten.

Fats also help the body absorb fat soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K

When we eat more fat than our bodies need, the excess from our food is turned into body fat. We need some body fat to function properly and be physically active. But having too much body fat, especially around your waist, can increase your risk of developing heart and circulatory diseases. It can also make you feel more tired, give you joint pain and make you snore while you sleep.

The following are four of the main types of fat within the diet:

• monounsaturated fats
• polyunsaturated fats
• saturated fats
• trans fats

Types of fat:

Saturated

These fats are found in many foods, both sweet and savoury with most of them coming from animal sources including meat and diary as well as some plant varieties such as palm and coconut oil. These fats need to be kept to a minimum within the diet.

Foods high in Saturated Fats:

• Fatty cuts of meat
• Processed products such as sausages and pies
• Butter, lard, and Ghee
• Cheese especially hard cheeses such as cheddar
• Cream and Ice cream
• Savoury snacks such as crackers
• Confectionary
• Biscuits, cakes, and pastries
• Palm and coconut oil

Cholesterol and Saturated Fats-

Cholesterol is a fatty waxy substance that’s mostly made by the liver in the body and helps the body make cell membranes, hormones and vitamin D. Cholesterol is then carried in the blood by lipoproteins (a combination of proteins and fats) as either LDL (low density lipoprotein) or HDL (high density lipoproteins). The consumption of too much saturated fats can raise the bad LDL in your bloodstream which can then increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Saturated fat – How much fat should I eat?

The UK government recommends that:

• men should have less than 30g of saturated fat per day
• women should have less than 20g of saturated fat per day
• men and women should have less than 5g of trans fat per day
• children should have less trans-fat and saturated fat per day than adults.

Most people in the UK eat too much saturated fat. The nutrition labels on your food’s packaging will show you the amount of total fat and saturated fat you are eating. Looking at the amount of saturated fat in your food will help you keep to the recommended daily intake.

We tend to eat more saturated fats than trans fats. But you may want to check your food’s nutrition labels for trans fats. They are usually listed as ‘hydrogenated fats’ or ‘hydrogenated vegetable oils’ in the ingredients.

Trans Fats

Trans fats are found in low levels in some foods such as meats and dairy products.

Trans Fats or hydrogenated fats are also found as fat which are chemically altered (manufacturing process) and are a hazard to health as they raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. Found in

• Pastries
• Cakes
• Biscuits
• Crackers
• Fried foods/processed meats
• Takeaways
• Hard margarines.

Foods that have ‘hydrogenated oils or fats’ or ‘partially hydrogenated oils or fats’ in the list of ingredients are likely to contain trans fats.

The recommendation from the government is that adults should not have more than 5g of trans fats per day.

Most supermarkets in the UK have removed partially hydrogenated vegetable oil from all their own brands.

As a nation we tend to eat a lot more saturated fat than trans-fat, and so when looking to make healthy changes the focus needs to be on reducing the amount of saturated fat within the diet.

Unsaturated fats

These fats include both mono and polyunsaturated fats and are essential for you having a healthy diet. To reduce the risk of heart disease, it is best to reduce your overall fat intake and swap your fats from saturated to unsaturated.

Even this simple act of swapping fat intake can help to lower your cholesterol.

Most oils from plants and fish with be unsaturated fats such as mono and polyunsaturated.

Monosaturated – these fats help to protect your heart by maintaining the good HDL cholesterol levels while reducing the levels of the bad LDL levels of cholesterol in your blood.

Mono fats are found in olive oil, rapeseed oil and spreads as well as avocado and some nuts such as almonds and Brazil’s.

Use mono fats instead of trans fats such as:

• Olive oil and rapeseed oil
• Avocado
• Nuts and seeds (almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts and pistachios)
• Some spreads are made from monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil and rapeseed

Polyunsaturated – these fats can also lower lowers of bad cholesterol within the bloodstream with the two types being omega-3 and pmega-6.  Some types of the omega 3 and 6 fats cannot be made by the body and so must be consumed by the foods that we eat.

Omega-3 oils are found in salmon, trout sardines and kippers.

Omega-6 oils are found in rapeseed, corn and sunflower oil as well as some nuts.

Most people are getting enough omega-6 in their diet, but from a health point of view it is recommended that we consume more omega-3 oils than 6 and do to this you need to eating at least two portions of fish per week one of which should be oily such as salmon.

Use Polyunsaturated fats such as:

• Corn oil, sunflower oil and soya oil
• Nuts and seeds (walnuts, pine nuts, sesame seeds and sunflower seeds)
• Oily fish such as herring, mackerel, pilchards, sardines, salmon, trout and fresh tuna
• Some spreads are made from polyunsaturated fats, such as sunflower oil.

Supermarket lower fat foods:

Nutrition labels are the key here and provide so much information regarding levels of fats. Here is what you should be looking for.

Total Fat details:

High fat is more than 17.5g per 100g

Low fat is 3g or less per 100g or 1.5g per 100ml for liquids.

Fat free is 0.5g or less.

Saturated fat details:

High in saturate is more then 5g per 100g

Low in saturate is less than 1.5g

Fat free is 0.5g per 100g

For a product to be labelled as lower or reduce fat it must contain 30% less fat than a similar product. If the type of food is high in fat in the first place, then check that a low fat version is still a healthier option. Also check sugar levels too, as often sugar can be added to improve taste.

So why do we need fats in our diets?

We all need to eat a small amount of fat to have a healthy and balanced diet. The right amount of fat helps our bodies to:

• stay warm
• have energy
• make hormones that help our bodies work the way they should
• have essential fatty acids like Omega-3 and Omega-6 – the body can’t make these
• absorb vitamins A, D, E and K – the body can’t absorb these vitamins without the help of fat.

The key is to reduce fats and change the type of fat you are eating and making no more than 25% of our daily intake. As fat is the most energy dense nutrient we eat, cutting down on the amount of all types of fat eaten can help to prevent weight gain or help to achieve weight loss.

To help keep your heart and blood vessels healthy and reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease it is recommended to:

• Cut right down on saturated and trans fats and replace them with monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Trans fats come from hydrogenated vegetable oil, which must be declared on a food’s ingredients list.
• Always read food labelling as reducing fats within your diet is a small part of living that healthy lifestyle.