GLOSSARY

Fat Content of Foods Table

Selected Health Canada 2008 food-composition examples, per the stated edible portion in grams. Values are historical reference averages, not current brand labels; preparation and rounding matter.

Dietary Fat means fat consumed in foods and drinks, distinct from body-fat stores or a blood triglyceride result.

Most foods contain mixtures of fatty acids: olive oil is not exclusively monounsaturated, and nuts do not contain only one fat type. Naming a food after its predominant fraction does not imply purity. Food selection should consider the overall composition, portion, accompanying fibre or protein and what the food replaces.

On a nutrition label, saturated and trans fat are subsets of total fat and must not be added to that total again. Check whether values refer to a serving or to a standard food weight. Eating two servings changes the actual intake of each component accordingly, even when the package looks small.

Ordinary dietary fat is conventionally counted as about 9 kilocalories per gram, so 10 grams provides roughly 90 kilocalories. This planning factor does not apply identically to every lipid molecule, such as cholesterol. Actual portion size, rather than an oil's name or its being natural, determines the energy consumed.

For example, pastry and cheese fat belongs in an athlete's intake record alongside cooking oil; visible oil is not the whole intake.

Much dietary triglyceride is hydrolysed by intestinal lipases into fatty acids and monoacylglycerols. Bile assists dispersion and micelle formation but is not itself a fat-cleaving enzyme. Products enter intestinal cells, where many long-chain fatty acids are reassembled into lipids. Absorption does not simply mean moving intact dietary molecules into blood.

Linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids are essential because humans cannot synthesise their structures from scratch. Essential means that a dietary supply is needed, not that unlimited amounts are beneficial. Different oils, nuts and seeds contribute to this supply. Severely removing all fats can make adequate intake of these fatty acids difficult.

The effect of reducing one fat depends on its replacement. Substituting unsaturated oils or nuts for some butter differs from adding oil to an unchanged diet. Replacing it only with sugary, low-fibre foods is not equivalent. Carbohydrate quality and total energy should be considered alongside the fatty-acid change.

Table references: Health Canada · 1