Too Much Saturated Fat Is Bad for You

by Shereen Jegtvig

Saturated fat is found mostly in animal products (beef, lamb, pork, lard, butter, cream, whole milk and high fat cheese) and some plant sources like coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil and palm kernel oil. Saturated fat is fairly solid at room temperature (think of butter or the fat you see in a raw marbled steak. Eating too much saturated fat increases the amount of cholesterol in your blood (much more so than consuming high cholesterol foods) and research shows diets in saturated fat increase inflammatory conditions in the arteries.

Many years of research has resulted in the American Heart Association and other expert groups, including the School of Public Health at Harvard to recommend limiting the amount of saturated fats in your diet. This doesn’t mean you can never eat red meat or cheese again, just watch your portion sizes and add variety to your diet with poultry, fish and seafood, and vegetarian dishes. Replace butter with heart-healthy oils like olive and canola oil, and buy non- or low-fat dairy products. Limit your daily saturated fat intake to less than 10% of your daily calorie intake (less than 20 grams for most of us).

But Some People Disagree
Saturated fat raises your cholesterol, which is bad for your heart, and may decrease the anti-inflammatory effect of HDL cholesterol (the good kind of cholesterol). So why do some people claim that you need to eat more saturated fat than Harvard or the American Heart Association suggest?

Some people seem to believe the accepted recommendations for saturated fat are due to some kind of a conspiracy theory and boldly state there is a lack of evidence proving the dangers of eating saturated fats. Yet, they don’t provide solid evidence to the contrary. I think most experts are right – if you spend an hour or two on PubMed, you’ll find many articles that point to saturated fat as a contributer to disease.

Personally, I agree with the recommendations to watch your saturated fat intake (your body can make what you need) and focus on eating healthier fats such as omega-3 fatty acids (fish, flax, canola oil and soy) and monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocado and nuts). But remember that healthy fats are just one part of a good diet – don’t forget about whole grains and eat lots of fruits and vegetables.

How to Avoid Saturated Fats
You can cut back on saturated fats by eating less of the animal-based foods that are high in saturated fats. Actually, that’s pretty obvious, but what about hidden saturated fats? When you shop, be sure to read those Nutrient Fact labels – saturated fat content is required to be listed there – or use our FoodEssentials tool to find those fats before you shop. Just look at the range of saturated fat content for these oatmeal cookies:

Just one serving of the Nabisco Chips Ahoy Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies has 15 – 20% of the saturated fat you can eat for a whole day (plus a lot of sugar and added ingredients you don’t need).

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