For decades, saturated fat was considered unhealthy and eating it was thought to contribute to heart disease. More recently, experts have begun to question whether eating saturated fat is really as bad as it’s been made out to be. The renewed scrutiny may be the result of the fact that several trendy diets, including the ketogenic diet and the paleo diet, favor some foods that are high in saturated fat, such as beef, butter, and coconut oil.
Many people who tried these diets says they lost weight and felt better, but they weren’t necessarily thinking about the long term effects, says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, creator of BetterThanDieting.com and author of Read It Before You Eat It: Taking You From Label to Table.
So, is saturated fat really so bad for your health? “All the big health authorities consider saturated fat public enemy No. 1, but I think the issue is much more nuanced than that,” says Samantha Cassetty, RD, a registered dietitian based in New York City and the coauthor of Sugar Shock. While more research is needed, here’s what we know at this point.
To understand saturated fat, you first need to understand the different types of fat. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), there are four major types:
All fats have the same number of calories, 9 per gram (g), which makes them more caloric than both protein and carbohydrates, which each have 4 calories per gram. Different kinds of fats have different chemical structures and different effects on your body, however. Chemically, saturated fats have carbon-to-carbon single bonds — that’s what makes them different from other types of fats. Generally, saturated and trans fats are solid at room temperature, like butter, while mono- and polyunsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature, like olive oil.
The term “saturated fat” is an umbrella term for different types: Saturated fats can be short-chain, medium-chain, long-chain, or very long-chain, depending on how many carbon atoms they have, according to the review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC). Different foods have different types of saturated fats. You’re more likely to get short-chain fatty acids from dairy fats and medium- and long-chain fatty acids from red meat and plant oils, for example.
Saturated fat is naturally a part of many foods, including animal products such as red meat, full-fat dairy, and eggs, as well as tropical oils, according to the AHA. It’s also often found in baked or fried foods.
Here are some examples of the saturated fat content of some common foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) database:
It’s hard to say how much saturated fat you should consume. Your body needs some dietary fat, according to the AHA. Fat has a variety of important functions, including giving you energy, helping your cells function, protecting your organs, producing hormones, helping your body absorb nutrients, and helping keep you warm.
“It’s become recognized that fat is not the bad guy,” Taub-Dix says. “Science has shown us that fat can be healthy, but you need to be careful about how much you’re eating and the kinds that you’re eating.”
Mono- and polyunsaturated fats are often advocated by health experts because research has found that, when consumed in moderation, they can help lower bad (LDL) cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of adverse cardiovascular events, according to the AHA. The opposite has long been believed to be true about saturated fats, that they increase your LDL cholesterol levels and may contribute to heart disease and stroke, according to the AHA.
The link isn’t entirely clear, however. Some foods that are high in saturated fat, including whole-fat dairy, unprocessed meat, and dark chocolate, are not linked with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease or diabetes, according to the JACC. Additionally, most studies on saturated fat were relatively small, conducted 40 to 50 years ago, and have flaws in their methodology. That same report notes that starchy carbohydrates and sugar, not saturated fat, are linked with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Therefore, recommendations on saturated fat vary. The JACC states that there’s no evidence that an arbitrary upper limit on saturated fat consumption will prevent cardiovascular disease. But the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (PDF) recommend an intake of less than 10 percent of calories per day, and the AHA recommends 5 to 6 percent. If you eat 2,000 calories per day, 5 to 6 percent works out to 100 to 120 calories per day, or about 11 to 13 g.
“If you limit saturated fat, it should be replaced with healthier fats like nuts, certain oils, salmon, and avocado, not with sugar like we did in the '80s and '90s,” says Taub-Dix.
Fat is a nutrient your body needs fat, but you can meet that need with any kind of fat, and most official guidelines recommend mono- and polyunsaturated sources. The AHA has recommended limiting saturated fat for more than 60 years, according to a meta-analysis published in Nutrition Reviews in December 2019. But that same report also concluded that the evidence for limiting saturated fats might need reevaluation, since it found that the association between saturated fats and heart disease was inconsistent.
The potential health benefits from saturated fat may differ based on the sources of saturated fat. For example, an article published in January 2020 in Advances in Nutrition reported that full-fat dairy foods might be associated with lower levels of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. And the connection between coconut oil and both weight loss and cardiovascular disease needs more research, according to a study published in 2019 in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.
That said, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend getting less than 10 percent of calories per day from saturated fat, preferably from foods that contain a lot of other nutrients, such as lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, grains, and oils.
There’s no getting past the top attraction of saturated fat — it’s delicious. “If you look at the list of foods that have saturated fat, for most people, those are their favorite foods,” Taub-Dix says. “If you look at something like bacon or coconut, they have very distinctive tastes, and they are delicious for most people.”
She points out that you don’t have to cut saturated fat out of your diet. But she recommends using it as an accent instead of the heart of your dish. For example, crumble up bacon bits on top of a salad instead of having strips of bacon. Or use a little coconut to top your cake instead of making a coconut cake. “Those kinds of accents still give you the flavor from the saturated fat, but you’re not having a lot of it,” she says.
She also recommends looking at the risk-benefit ratio of the saturated fat in your diet. For example, maybe you don’t like fat-free plain yogurt, but you like full-fat Greek yogurt. That dairy is high in saturated fat, but it’s an excellent source of protein, and it also contains calcium and probiotics. “If the rest of your diet is not high in saturated fat, then that would probably be a healthier choice than some of things you might otherwise eat,” Taub-Dix says.
Research has found links between saturated fat consumption and a range of health conditions, including:
If you’re concerned about the level of saturated fat in your diet, especially if you have or are at risk for heart disease, cancer, dementia, or liver disease, you should talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about your recommended intake.
Like other nutrients, saturated fat isn’t going to make or break a healthy diet and lifestyle on its own. It’s more important to look at your diet quality and the sum of all the food you’re eating, rather than focusing on saturated fat as an individual nutrient, says Casssetty.
If you are looking to cut back your consumption of these fats to recommended levels, however, there are some simple ways you can do so. Replacing whole-milk dairy with reduced-fat or fat-free versions is a good approach, as well as making sure most of the protein you eat is lean (such as poultry without the skin, fish, nuts).
You can modify many of these foods so you can still enjoy them while cutting back on saturated fat. For example, Taub-Dix recommends:
While more research is needed on the health effects of saturated fat, studies have linked it with a range of adverse health conditions, and guidelines recommend limiting intake to 10 percent of daily calories or less. To get the most beneficial impact from saturated fat, choose mostly foods that contain many other nutrients, such as lean meat and poultry, eggs, nuts, seeds, grains, and oils.
By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Swearing off booze, or at least reducing your intake, can offer benefits for your body and mind. Here’s how to stay the course.
We analyzed research and consulted health experts to understand if there’s anything you can or should do to boost your immune system.
Food is central to this cultural holiday. Here’s how to navigate the feast.
Many people (even non-Jews) are choosing kosher foods because they perceive them as cleaner and more nutritious. But are they really?
A recent Consumer Reports investigation discovered lead and cadmium in many common brands of dark chocolate. Learn how to stay safe and eat your chocolate…
Lindsay Lohan might love it, but a registered dietitian-nutritionist has other thoughts.
By subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
