A guide to fats in food

It's too simple to say that all fat is bad. We all need to eat some food that contains fats. Fats in the body are called lipids. They give us energy and help to transport vitamins around the body, for example.

But some fats are harmful. Eating these fats increases the level of bad cholesterol in your blood.

Here's a guide to different types of fats, what foods you can find them in, and what effect they have on cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood.

Type of fat	Where it comes from	Effects on levels of lipids in your blood
Saturated fats	Butter, hard cheese, cream, ice cream, meat fat (lard), coconut oil, and palm oil	Raise levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol when eaten too much
Trans fats (trans fatty acids)	Stick margarine and full-fat margarine, fast food, pastries and other baked goods (doughnuts, sweet rolls, and cookies)	Raise levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol when eaten too much
Polyunsaturated fats	Sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn (maize) oil, and fish oils	Can lower levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol
Monounsaturated fats	Olive oil, walnut oil, canola oil, and avocados	Can lower levels of bad (LDL) cholesterol and triglycerides, and raise levels of good (HDL) cholesterol
Omega-3 fats (fatty acids)	Oily fish (sardines, salmon, fresh tuna, trout, anchovies, herring, mackerel), walnuts, canola oil, and olive oil	Lower levels of triglycerides

This information was last updated on Aug 03, 2011 – Consumer Reports