Why is saturated fat important

This could actually be worse than making no reduction to saturated fat at all. For example, stearic acid, which makes up approximately half of the saturated fats in dark chocolate, does not raise blood cholesterol. The other saturated fatty acid — palmitic acid — does, though, so best not to eat the whole bar. In cheese and yoghurt, for example, calcium a mineral that may keep blood pressure normal could be why these foods have less impact on raising LDL cholesterol than, say, bacon.

Most of the fat in yoghurt is saturated fat, but dairy products seem to impact health less than, say, animal fats Credit: Getty Images. Of course, good luck and good genes can go a long way too. In short, that's more advice to eat a healthy Mediterranean-style diet — and steer clear of butter coffees, burgers and bacon.

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Kroger Health. Nationally Sponsored by. Learn more about Kroger Health. Eggland's Best. Current UK government guidelines advise cutting down on all fats and replacing saturated fat with some unsaturated fat. A small amount of fat is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet. Fat is a source of essential fatty acids, which the body cannot make itself.

Fat helps the body absorb vitamin A , vitamin D and vitamin E. These vitamins are fat-soluble, which means they can only be absorbed with the help of fats. Any fat that's not used by your body's cells or turned into energy is converted into body fat. Likewise, unused carbohydrates and proteins are also converted into body fat. All types of fat are high in energy. A gram of fat, whether it's saturated or unsaturated, provides 9kcal 37kJ of energy compared with 4kcal 17kJ for carbohydrate and protein.

Most fats and oils contain both saturated and unsaturated fats in different proportions. As part of a healthy diet, you should try to cut down on foods and drinks that are high in saturated fats and trans fats and replace some of them with unsaturated fats. Most of them come from animal sources, including meat and dairy products, as well as some plant foods, such as palm oil and coconut oil.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance that's mostly made by the body in the liver. If we combine this information with your PHI, we will treat all of that information as PHI, and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices.

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This content does not have an Arabic version. See more conditions. Healthy Lifestyle Nutrition and healthy eating. Products and services. Dietary fat: Know which to choose Fat is an important part of your diet, but some kinds are healthier than others. By Mayo Clinic Staff. Thank you for Subscribing Our Housecall e-newsletter will keep you up-to-date on the latest health information. Please try again. Something went wrong on our side, please try again.

Show references Duyff RL. Fat facts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Department of Health and Human Services and U. Department of Agriculture. Accessed Feb. Dietary Reference Intakes for energy, carbohydrate, fat, fatty acids, cholesterol, protein, and amino acids.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.