3 - Sources of saturated and other dietary fats

Abstract

Saturated fat in the diet comes from a number of vegetable and animal sources. The main vegetable oil sources are palm oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter and the fats generally used in cocoa butter equivalents. The most common animal sources are either in the form of milk fats or from the carcass of an animal. Cow’s milk fat is by far the most commonly consumed milk fat, not only in its basic form in milk but in other dairy products such as butter and cheese. Animal carcass fats are consumed both as part of the meat of the animal (with beef, lamb or mutton, pork and venison being the most important of these) or as a component of other food products. A further source of saturates is from hydrogenated vegetable oils.