Obesity and Dietary Fats; what’s the facts?

National obesity awareness week is upon us and nearly 2 and a half years since the Governments’ childhood obesity plans and our post on this ‘Obesity, Diabetes and Oral health’ we look at why almost 10% of four to five-year-olds in England are obese and delve into the facts around fats and our diets.

There is a plethora of evidence out there, some of which can be conflicting and confusing, however latest Public health recommendations are that overall dietary fats should not exceed 35% of daily calories with saturated fats no more than 11% and Trans fats no more than 2%. Where are these fats hidden and how much attention should we pay to these figures?

Saturated fat
Saturated fat is mainly found in animal sources of food, so meat and dairy products. Foods such as butter, pies, cakes, biscuits, fatty cuts of meat, sausages, bacon, cheese and cream tend to be high in saturated fat. However palm and coconut oils are increasingly finding a place in our food, and although both nut oils they are high in saturated fats, and indeed coconut oil contains more saturated fat that butter!

These foods can be eaten occasionally in small amounts as part of a healthy balanced diet. However, as a nation, we are eating too much saturated fat, far exceeding official health recommendations. As mentioned previously, saturated fat should form no more than 11% of your daily calories. That’s around 20 grams a day for women and 30 grams for men. Children should consume even less. However as a nation we get 12.6% of our energy from saturated fat.

This is worrying, as the evidence shows that too much saturated fat in the diet raises blood cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke. Too much fat in the diet can mean too many calories leading to weight gain and obesity which significantly increases the risk of developing heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers and with 62% of the population being overweight or obese, it is important that we cut back on calories.

Unsaturated fat
Unsaturated fat, that is monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, is found in plant foods and fish. Examples of foods high in unsaturated fats are:

Oily fish such as salmon, sardines and mackerel,
Nuts and seeds,
Sunflower and olive oils,
Some fruit and vegetables, such as avocados.

Within this, it is recommended that we eat two portions of fish per week, one of which should be oily fish. This is because the scientific evidence tells us that replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats can help lower cholesterol, which can decrease your risk of heart disease.

Trans fats
The majority of trans fat in UK diets comes from natural sources in meat and milk. We know Trans fats are harmful to health, but in the UK average consumption is already well within maximum recommended levels and is falling.

Conclusion and thoughts

The above recommendations are quite didactic and I am unsure if for the average person or indeed child very achievable to track. We need to make efforts to try and reduce certain types of fats, be conscious and aware of what we are eating and move as much as possible. The key as always is to of course have balance- in our diets and balance what we consume with plentiful exercise and time for ourselves. There are initiatives being rolled out to try and combat childhood obesity , but we are yet to see a nationwide program that is working.

See the Blog for more posts on diet, diabetes, exercise and holistic health.