Articles
Dietary fat: Know which to choose
Harmful dietary fat
Healthier dietary fat
What changes should I make to my diet?
What about very low-fat diets?
Unhealthy fats
Healthier fats
Recommendations for fat intake
Content
The facts about fat
Saturated fat
Unsaturated fat
How can I start eating healthier?
Don't go to extremes
Harmful dietary fat
There are two main types of potentially harmful dietary fat:
- Saturated fat. This is a type of fat that comes mainly from animal sources of food, such as red meat, poultry and full-fat dairy products. Saturated fat raises total blood cholesterol levels and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, which can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fat may also increase your risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Trans fat. This is a type of fat that occurs naturally in some foods in small amounts. But most trans fats are made from oils through a food processing method called partial hydrogenation. These partially hydrogenated trans fats can increase unhealthy LDL cholesterol and lower healthy high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. This can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease.
Most fats that have a high percentage of saturated fat or that contain trans fat are solid at room temperature. Because of this, they're typically referred to as solid fats. They include beef fat, pork fat, butter, shortening and stick margarine.
