Nutrition is a science
Fruit and more;
be healthy by following
the advice of
the experts
Watch your weight and always lead
an active lifestyle
Eat more cereal, pulses, fruit and vegetables
Fats: choose the quality
and limit your intake
Consume sugar, cakes and sweet drinks in moderation
Drink plenty
of water
every day
What about salt? Less is better
Alcohol: if you do drink, limit your intake
Vary your diet often
Well-being
Fruit Team
Fruit recipes
Retailer's guide/
References
News

Fats: choose the quality and limit your intake
All fats are the same with regards to the energy they supply, but their quality is often very different. In fact, their chemical composition varies, especially with regards to fatty acids - which can be saturated, unsaturated and trans. Different fat qualities can have significant effects on human nutritional conditions and health. Animal fats, and only these, also contain another constituent called cholesterol, which is found in blood and in all cells (within which it carries out vital functions). Cholesterol contained in the food we eat can lead to a rise in the level of cholesterol in our blood, though this increase can vary greatly from person to person, and our bodies have self-regulating mechanisms that control the quantities of cholesterol we absorb from food.
Learn about different fats:

- Foods that have a high content of saturated fatty acids tend to raise cholesterol levels in the blood even more than eating food that contains cholesterol does. These foods comprise dairy products in particular (cheese, whole milk, cream, butter), fatty meat and fatty meat products and some vegetable oils (palm oil and coconut oil especially).

- Foods that have a high content of unsaturated fatty acids do not raise blood cholesterol levels. This category includes vegetable oils (olive and seed oils), walnuts, hazel nuts, olives and fish.

- Trans fatty acids tend to raise cholesterol levels in the blood. What is more, they provoke an increase of “bad cholesterol” rather than “good cholesterol”. They are naturally present in products that derive from grazing animals (meat and milk), and they can form during some vegetable fat industrial treatments, thus ending up in some processed food.
Advice:
  • Do not cook fatty dressings and avoid reusing fats and oils that have already been cooked.
  • Do not eat too much fried food.
  • Eat fish more often, either fresh or frozen (2-3 times a week).
  • Choose lean meat and cut away visible fat.
  • If you like eggs you can eat up to 4 a week, on different days.
  • If you drink a lot of milk, it is advisable to consume skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, which anyway has the same calcium content as whole milk.
  • Nearly all cheese contains a high quantity of fat, so choose low fat cheese or eat smaller portions of it.
  • Read food labels if you want to check the kind and quantity of fat contained in products.
(taken from “GUIDLINES FOR HEALTHY ITALIAN NUTRITION” – Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies and INRAN Italian National Institute of Food and Nutrition Research – 2003)