Nutrition Guide To Fat Intake

Some fat is needed in your daily diet, but the traditional Western diet contains a greater percentage of fat than what is needed--and often too much of the kinds of fat that are more detrimental to your overall health. Initially, it can seem daunting to understand the nutrition facts of fat, but making use of available tools may aid you now and in the long term.

Recommendations

Adults age 19 years and older are recommended to have no more than 20 to 35 percent of their daily dietary intake from fat and fat sources per "The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005." These percentages include all forms of dietary fat, from saturated to polyunsaturated to monounsaturated.

Determining Fat Caloric Intake

To determine how many calories those percentages represent in your diet, multiply your total daily calorie intake, such as 2,000 calories, by the percent of fat you wish to have in your diet, such as 25 percent. The resultant figure will be the total number of fat calories of which your daily diet should consist.

Considerations

Fat is a concentrated source of calories/energy. One gram of protein or carbohydrate provides four calories; 1 g of fat provides nine calories. There are three kinds of fats; each kind of fat provides the same amount of calories per gram.

Your body requires some fat intake each day for processes such as the absorption of some vitamins, proper functioning of the immune system and the maintenance and function of cell membranes, explains MayoClinic.com.

Types

There are two basic types of fat: saturated and unsaturated. The unsaturated fat category includes polyunsaturated, monounsaturated and trans fat.

Saturated fat, which comes chiefly from animal sources, is associated with elevated LDL cholesterol levels. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats do not raise LDL cholesterol levels.

Trans fats, which occur in small amounts naturally in a few foods, are generally found in processed foods. Trans fats are created when hydrogen is added to liquid oils to make them solid in the process of hydrogenation.

Penn Medicine, of the University of Pennsylvania, recommends that your daily fat intake be balanced: saturated fats should represent less than 30 percent of your daily fat intake; polyunsaturated fats should represent no more than 30 percent of your daily fat intake and monounsaturated fats should represent 30 to 45 percent of your daily fat intake.I

Identification

As a consumer, you have a number of tools at your disposal to aid you in selecting a diet plan that is balanced in nutrition and represents a recommended amount of calories. MyPyramid, a tool provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides both general nutrition information and specific information personalized for you through an interactive tool.

The nutrition fact labels on food products identifies much nutrient-specific information, including percentages of trans fat, saturated fat and dietary cholesterol a product contains. The percentages will be based on a stated daily value, DV. If the total daily caloric value of your diet differs from that of the stated DV on the nutrition fact label, you will need to adjust the fat percentages up or down accordingly.