The federal government’s 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans urge us to reduce our intake of “solid fats” such as saturated and trans fats by replacing them with more healthful, unsaturated fats and oils. The former are believed to increase risk of certain chronic conditions and diseases, while the latter may help protect against them.
Robert Post, deputy director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, says Americans are getting “far too many” of their calories from fat, especially solid fat.
“That leads to development of fatty tissue and weight gain,” Post explains, “which promotes hypertension, cardiovascular disease, (coronary heart disease) and (chronic) diseases related to the diet like diabetes.”
“(Decrease) the amount of certain fats in the diet,” Post adds, “and you potentially reduce the risk of those health outcomes and may even live longer.”
Setting aside the matter of disease risk, there’s compelling reason to keep an eye on the solid fats in your diet. Because solid fats are highly caloric, and because foods containing a lot of them also tend to have lots of sugar, reducing (consumption) is an excellent way to cut calories while leaving room for more nutritious foods on our plates. And that’s something most of us could use.