Healthy Oils

Oils provide important nutrients and are essential in a well-balanced diet. Unlike solid animal fats (like butter), which are sources of artery-clogging saturated fat and cholesterol, oils come from plants and fish and provide heart-healthy unsaturated fat.

Soft spread margarines (also known as butter spreads) are made from vegetable oils and are considered sources of “good fat” – more specifically, polyunsaturated fat, which provides essential fatty acids that are necessary for good health.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans along with USDA’s MyPlate recommend choosing oils, like soft spread margarine, instead of solid fats.

Good Fats/Bad Fats. What You Should Know:

• Eliminating sources of "bad fats" (hint: think animal fats).These unhealthy fats raise blood cholesterol levels. They include saturated fat and cholesterol, as well as trans fats.
• Replace harmful fats with healthful unsaturated fats (hint: think plant-based fats). Unsaturated fats have been shown to reduce inflammation and lower blood cholesterol levels when included in a diet that is low in saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol.
• Polyunsaturated fats are important components of a heart healthy diet. These fats are found in high concentrations in vegetable oils and products made from vegetable oils, like soft spread margarines.

Recent research from the Harvard School of Public Health showed that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat lower risk of heart disease by about 20 percent². Plant-based fats, like those found naturally in nuts and seeds, or extracted from plants in the form of vegetable oils, are rich sources of these heart-healthy unsaturated fats.