Link Between Fats and Weight

Fat is a necessary part of a healthy diet.

Only about 33 percent of our daily calories come from fat. Why the discrepancy? One possible reason is that people are exchanging fats for even more unhealthy alternatives, like calorie-rich, sugar-laden carbohydrates.

There's actually no proof that restricting fats in the diet improves weight loss or reduces heart disease risk. A major study by the Women's Health Initiative found no health benefit in women who followed a low-fat diet over those who didn't restrict their fats. And a Nurses' Health Study found no improvement in heart health or weight loss, probably because they were cutting out the protective good fats as well as bad fats.

The current recommendation is between three and nine servings of fats each day; most of these should come from good fats, with very little saturated fat and ideally no trans fat.