What is fat?
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Our bodies require small amounts of 'good fat' to function and help prevent disease. However, a lot of modern diets contain far more fat than the body needs. Too much fat, especially too much of the wrong type of fat, can cause serious health complaint including obesity, higher blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which in turn lead to a greater risk of heart disease.
Dietary fats make food tasty, they often improve the texture of food as well as flavour and smell – they make food more appealing. In the UK, the Department of Health suggests that no more than 35% of total calories should come from fat. In the US, recommended fat intake is 30% of total calorie intake. In reality most Western diets derive at least 40% (and sometimes a lot more) of their energy from fats.
Fat is good!
Like protein, but not carbohydrates, fat is essential to human life, we all need fat in our diets:
- Fat is a concentrated source of energy – one gram of fat contains nine calories, much more than...
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