Once upon a time, we didn't know anything about fat except

that it made foods tastier. We cooked our food in lard or

shortening. We spread butter on our breakfast toast and plopped

sour cream on our baked potatoes. Farmers bred their animals to

produce milk with high butterfat content and meat marbled with

fat because that was what most people wanted to eat.

But ever since word got out that diets high in fat are related

to heart disease, things have become more complicated. Experts tell

us there are several different kinds of fat, some of them worse for

us than others. In addition to saturated, monounsaturated and

polyunsaturated fats, there are triglycerides, trans fatty acids,

and omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids.

Most people have learned something about cholesterol, and many

of us have been to the doctor for a blood test to learn our

cholesterol number. Now, however, it turns out that there's more

than one kind of cholesterol, too.

Almost every day there are newspaper reports of new studies

or recommendations about what to eat or what not to eat: Lard is

bad, olive oil is good, margarine is better for you than butter

then again, maybe it's not.

Amid the welter of confusing terms and conflicting details,

consumers are often baffled about how to improve their diets.

FDA recently issued new regulations that will enable consumers

to see clearly on a food product's label how much and what kind of

fat the product contains. (See A Little Lite Reading in the

June 1993 FDA Consumer.) Understanding the terms used to discuss

fat is crucial if you want to make sure your diet is within

recommended guidelines (see accompanying article).

Fats and Fatty Acids

Fats are a group of chemical compounds that contain fatty

acids. Energy is stored in the body mostly in the form of fat. Fat

is needed in the diet to supply essential fatty acids, substances

essential for growth but not produced by the body itself.

There are three main types of fatty acids: saturated,

monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. All fatty acids are molecules

composed mostly of carbon and hydrogen atoms. A saturated fatty

acid has the maximum possible number of hydrogen atoms attached to

every carbon atom. It is therefore said to be saturated with

hydrogen atoms.

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is sort of a cousin of fat. Both fat and

cholesterol belong to a larger family of chemical compounds called

lipids. All the cholesterol the body needs is made by the liver. It

is used to build cell membranes and brain and nerve tissues.

Cholesterol also helps the body produce steroid hormones needed for

body regulation, including processing food, and bile acids needed

for digestion.

People don't need to consume dietary cholesterol because the

body can make enough cholesterol for its needs. But the typical

U.S. diet contains substantial amounts of cholesterol, found in

foods such as egg yolks, liver, meat, some shellfish, and whole-

milk dairy products. Only foods of animal origin contain

cholesterol.

Government Advice

Dietary guidelines endorsed by the U.S. Department of

Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

advise consumers to:

Reduce total dietary fat intake to 30 percent or less of total

calories.

Reduce saturated fat intake to less than 10 percent of

calories.

Reduce cholesterol intake to less than 300 milligrams daily.

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