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Summary

Fat is a type of nutrient. You need some fat in your diet but not too much. Fats give you energy and help your body absorb vitamins. Dietary fat also plays a major role in your cholesterol levels.

But not all fats are the same. You should try to avoid:

• Saturated fats such as butter, solid shortening, and lard
• Trans fats. These are found in vegetable shortenings, some margarines, crackers, cookies, snack foods, and other foods made with or fried in partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs). By 2018, most U.S. companies will not be allowed to add PHOs to food.

Try to replace them with oils such as canola, olive, safflower, sesame, or sunflower. Of course, eating too much fat will put on the pounds. Fat has twice as many calories as proteins or carbohydrates.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

• Cooking with Healthier Fats and Oils (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) - PDF
• How to Track Saturated Fat (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• The Skinny on Fat: The Good, the Bad, and the Unknown (National Institutes of Health) Also in Spanish
• The Skinny on Fats (American Heart Association)

Specifics

• 7 Things to Know about Omega-3 Fatty Acids (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
• Butter vs. Margarine: Which Is Better for My Heart? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Eat Healthy: More Key Topics (Oils, Sugars, Saturated Fat, Sodium, Alcohol) (Department of Agriculture)
• Healthy Recipes: Low-fat (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Omega-3 Supplements: In Depth (National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health)
• What Are Chia Seeds? (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Dietary Fats (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Fatty Acids (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Fatty Acids, Omega-3 (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: How the Dietary Saturated/Monounsaturated Fatty Acid Ratio Modulates Brain Function in...
• Article: Individualized Target Fortification of Breast Milk with Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat...
• Article: Full-fat yogurt compared with non-fat yogurt reduces blood triacylglycerol concentrations and...
• Dietary Fats -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Heart Association
• Food and Drug Administration
• Food and Nutrition Information Center
• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Children

• Fats (for parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish
• Learning about Fats (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Dietary Fat and Cholesterol (Boston Children's Hospital) Also in Spanish
• Figuring Out Fat and Calories (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Butter, margarine, and cooking oils (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Dietary fats explained (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Facts about monounsaturated fats (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Facts about polyunsaturated fats (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Facts about saturated fats (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Facts about trans fats (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Omega-3 fats - Good for your heart (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish