Recommended Fat Intake

Recommended Fat Intake

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Fat is not all bad – but too much of it is. Find out how much fat you should be getting in your diet with this quick guide.
Also find out which types of fat are better for you and how much fat an infant's diet should have.




Fats in the diet
Despite what many people think, fat is not all bad. In fact, fats in the diet are essential for good health – if you really did eat a 99% fat free diet, you would not be healthy. The problem with fat is that too much of it is unhealthy. As well as causing you to become overweight, too much fat contributes to obesity, a higher risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, gall stones and certain cancers.
When trying to eat a balanced diet, don’t forget that dietary fats/oils have over double the energy of carbohydrates and protein. Dietary fat is also more readily converted to and stored as body fat compared to carbohydrates and protein.
Energy values per gram

Carbohydrate	4 Calories
Protein	4 Calories
Fat/Oil	9 Calories
Alcohol	7 Calories

Excess carbohydrates may also be converted and stored as body fat. Excess alcohol also lessens the body's ability to burn fat and increases fat storage - particularly in the belly, which is a danger zone for health.

Recommended fat intake

With many of us getting over 40% of total calories from fat - either as fat or oil, or as fat in foods and drinks – it’s not surprising that Americans consume too much fat.
Healthy ranges for fat intake per day are as follows:

Children	30-60g
Teenagers (Active)	40-80g
Women	30-60g
Men (Active)	40-80g
Heavy Activity/Athlete	80-120g

The chart below shows the recommended maximum fat intake for different energy levels. Note that at lower calorie levels, the percent of fat calories should decrease to allow for protein calories (which have nutritional priority).

Calories	Fat	% cals from fat
1200 cals 1500 cals 1800 cals 2000 cals 2200 cals 2500 cals 2800 cals 3000 cals 3500 cals 4000 cals	30g 40g 50g 60g 70g 80g 90g 100g 117g 135g	23% 24% 25% 27% 28% 29% 29% 30% 30% 30%

Types of fat

As well as eating the right amount of fat, it’s also important to eat the right types of fat. Fats that are described as saturated or trans are the most critical ones to limit (limit to 10% of your fat calories). Fats described as monounsaturated or polyunsaturated, on the other hand, are ones you should include as a regular part of your diet. Omega-3 fatty acids are also an important dietary fat.

Type of fat	Found in foods such as...	Recommended daily intake
Saturated or trans fats	Full cream milk, cheese, butter, cream, fatty meats and sausages, and processed foods	10% or less of total calories
Monounsaturated fat	Canola and olive oils, canola margarine, peanuts, avocados	10-15% of total calories
Polyunsaturated fat	Canola oil and margarine, fish, other omega-3 foods listed above	10% or less of total calories

Fat intake for infants

Infants and toddlers under three years should not be restricted in their fat intake because much larger volumes of food would be required to guarantee adequate energy intake and growth. Particularly, low-fat milk should not be a replacement for whole milk.