How do I
know if I'm eating too much saturated fat?
Unfortunately, there's no easy answer. You just have to do the
math.
Standard advice in the 2005 Dietary Guidelines has not changed
from previous recommendations: A total fat intake of 20 to 35
percent of calories is recommended for adults, with no more
than 10 percent of calories coming from saturated fat. That
means, for example, that if you consume an average of 1,600
calories a day, you should limit saturated fat to 18 grams or
less. If you consume 2,000 calories a day, limit saturated fat
to 22 grams. If you consume 2,500 calories a day, limit
saturated fat to 27 grams.
(A note to Nutrition Facts label-readers: On the label, the
recommendations for saturated fat intake are rounded to the
nearest 5 grams, so those guidelines list a limit of 20 grams
for 2,000-calorie-a-day diets and 25 grams for
2,500-calorie-a-day diets. But the 10 percent guideline allows
a little more saturated fat than that.)
Most people consume more saturated fat than recommended --
about 11 to 12 percent of calories instead of less than 10
percent. That's not as high of a percentage as it used to be
-- but that's because Americans are eating more calories, not
reducing their saturated fat intake. Continually consuming
more saturated fat than recommended adds up over time,
increasing the risk of heart disease.
See where you stand in your saturated fat consumption by
tracking your intake over a few average days. Pay special
attention to cheese and beef, which together contribute nearly
25 percent of the saturated fat in the American diet. You can
use the Nutrition Facts label for saturated fat content, or
look up the information in a reference book or the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's National Nutrient Database for
Standard Reference at
http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/.
Choosing lower-fat alternatives can be an easy way to reduce
saturated fat intake. To illustrate, the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines' chapter on fats includes a chart comparing the
saturated fat content of "regular" foods and their lower-fat
counterparts. An ounce of regular cheddar cheese, for example,
contains 6 grams of saturated fat compared with 1.2 grams in
low-fat cheddar cheese. A medium croissant has 6.6 grams of
saturated fat compared with 0.2 grams in a medium oat bran
bagel. Making healthier day-to-day choices like these can have
a huge impact over time.
Chow Line is a service of Ohio State University Extension and
the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. Send
questions to Chow Line, c/o Martha Filipic, 2021 Coffey Road,
Columbus, OH 43210-1044, or filipic.3@osu.edu.
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