Reducing saturated fats
Reducing general consumption of saturated fat is crucial to preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Over recent years, much has been done (by the Food Standards Agency, consumers and industry) to reduce the population's intake. Consumption levels are gradually moving towards the goal set by the Food Standards Agency: to reduce population intake of saturated fat from 13.3% to below 11% of food energy. However, a further substantial reduction would greatly reduce CVD and deaths from CVD.
Taking the example of Japan (where consumption of saturated fat is much lower than in the UK), halving the average intake (from 14% to 6–7% of total energy) might prevent approximately 30,000 CVD deaths annually. It would also prevent a corresponding number of new cases of CVD annually
(Note that low-fat products are not recommended for children under 2 years, but are fine thereafter.)
Policy goal
- Reduce population-level consumption of saturated fat. To achieve this, the evidence suggests that the following are among the measures that should be considered.
Recommended actions
- Encourage manufacturers, caterers and producers to reduce substantially the amount of saturated fat in all food products. If necessary, consider supportive legislation. Ensure no manufacturer, caterer or producer is at an unfair advantage as a result.
- Create the conditions whereby products containing lower levels of saturated fat are sold more cheaply than high saturated fat products. Consider legislation and fiscal levers if necessary.
- Create favourable conditions for industry and agriculture to produce dairy products for human consumption that are low in saturated fat.
- Continue to promote semi-skimmed milk for children aged over 2 years. This is in line with the American Heart Association's pediatric dietary strategy [2].