Fat has gotten a bad reputation over the last few decades due to a misconception that all types of fat have a negative impact on health, such as increasing the risk for chronic conditions like heart disease. Now scientists are switching the focus from total fat to type of fat because type of fat may have the greatest impact on health. Research in this area has prompted government agencies and health organizations to revise dietary recommendations for fat intake to emphasize the quality of fat in the diet rather than the quantity of fat.

Here are links to some key studies supporting the emphasis on the quality of fat instead of quantity:

• Harvard researchers concluded that simply lowering the percentage of calories from fat in the diet is unlikely to reduce heart disease incidence and confirmed that saturated fats increase and polyunsaturated fats decrease total and LDL cholesterol.
• Another Harvard study predicted that heart disease risk would be reduced by making small substitutions in the diet, such as replacing calories from saturated fat, trans fat or carbohydrates with calories from mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
• The National Institute of Health’s Women’s Health Initiative looked at the impact of reducing total fat intake. The study found that the risk for colon cancer, heart disease, or stroke was no different for women on the low-fat diet than women who maintained their typical, higher fat diet. The proportion of each type of fat consumed did not change. The study investigators suggested that a diet low in saturated and trans fat and higher in polyunsaturated fat (than was achieved in the study) might decrease disease risk.