Food · 5 min read ·

Fats: the type matters more than the amount

Fat is not the enemy — the body needs it, among other things, to absorb vitamins. But fats differ, and studies show exactly where.

In a nutshell

1How much fat

EFSA recommendation 20–35% The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends that adults get 20–35% of their energy from fat. Saturated and trans fats should be as low as a balanced diet allows; with saturated fat, LDL cholesterol rises steadily and no safe threshold can be set.1
WHO recommendation 10% / 1% The World Health Organization (2023): saturated fat at most 10% of energy, trans fat at most 1%. At 2,000 kcal a day, that is about 22 g of saturated fat. They should be replaced with unsaturated fats from plants or with carbohydrates from foods with naturally occurring fibre.2

2Saturated fat and the heart

Moderate evidence — Cochrane −17% A review of 15 randomised trials with 56,675 people: cutting saturated fat for at least two years reduced cardiovascular events by 17%. It did not affect overall mortality or deaths from heart disease. The more saturated fat people cut, the bigger the benefit.3
Moderate evidence −19% A summary of 8 randomised trials with 13,614 people: when people replaced saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat from vegetable oils, they had 19% fewer heart attacks and heart disease deaths — about 10% fewer for every 5% of energy shifted to polyunsaturated fat.4

So what matters most is what you replace saturated fat with. WHO recommends vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, or carbohydrates from whole grains, pulses, vegetables and fruit.2

3Trans fats

Moderate evidence — observational studies +34% A summary of observational studies: people with the highest trans fat intake had 34% higher overall mortality and 28% higher mortality from heart disease. This applied to industrial trans fats from hydrogenated fats, not to the natural ones from the milk and meat of ruminants. Saturated fat was not linked with mortality in the same analysis, but the evidence was inconsistent.5

Since April 2021, food in the EU may contain at most 2 g of industrial trans fat per 100 g of fat.9

4Oils and nuts

Moderate evidence +0.27 mmol/L A summary of 16 studies: coconut oil raised LDL cholesterol by 10.5 mg/dL (about 0.27 mmol/L) more than non-tropical vegetable oils. Studies do not support its reputation as a “healthy” oil.6
Moderate evidence — observational studies −21% A summary of 20 prospective studies: each extra handful of nuts a day (28 g) was linked with a 21% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 22% lower overall mortality.7
Weak evidence — observational study −19% In two US cohorts with 92,383 people followed for 28 years, those who ate more than half a tablespoon of olive oil a day had 19% lower mortality than those who never ate it. Replacing butter, margarine or mayonnaise with olive oil was linked with lower mortality.8

Fish oils are covered in the article Omega-3.

What to take from this

Sources

Written on , based on studies available at that date. Newer research may change the conclusions.

  1. EFSA (2017). Dietary Reference Values for nutrients: Summary report. EFSA Supporting Publications 14(12):e15121. doi.org/10.2903/sp.efsa.2017.e15121
  2. World Health Organization (2023). WHO updates guidelines on fats and carbohydrates (press release). who.int
  3. Hooper L. et al. (2020). Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 8:CD011737. doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD011737.pub3
  4. Mozaffarian D., Micha R., Wallace S. (2010). Effects on coronary heart disease of increasing polyunsaturated fat in place of saturated fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS Med 7:e1000252. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000252
  5. de Souza R. J. et al. (2015). Intake of saturated and trans unsaturated fatty acids and risk of all cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. BMJ 351:h3978. doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3978
  6. Neelakantan N., Seah J. Y. H., van Dam R. M. (2020). The effect of coconut oil consumption on cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Circulation 141:803–814. doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.043052
  7. Aune D. et al. (2016). Nut consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer, all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. BMC Med 14:207. doi.org/10.1186/s12916-016-0730-3
  8. Guasch-Ferré M. et al. (2022). Consumption of olive oil and risk of total and cause-specific mortality among U.S. adults. J Am Coll Cardiol 79:101–112. doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.10.041
  9. Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/649 as regards trans fat. Official Journal of the EU L 110:17. eur-lex.europa.eu

This is general information and does not replace a doctor or dietitian. If you have heart or kidney disease or diabetes, talk to a doctor about your diet.