The Fats Guide
Fat isn't bad for you. Swap the fats that sit solid on your counter for the ones that pour. Add your foods to see which kind your day runs on, against your own line.
Updated November 15, 2026. 12 guide pages, 34 questions, 9 myths, from 129 published sources.
Saturatedstraight chains that set solid: butter, cheese, fatty meat, coconut oil
Monounsaturatedone kink, so it pours: olive and canola oil, avocado, nuts
Polyunsaturatedmore kinks: corn and sunflower oil, walnuts, fish, and the fats you can't make
Transmostly gone: out of US food since 2018 to 2021
What fats are in this food?
Try:
Add a food, or a whole day of them.
What your result means
- Your day is under your line: your fats are mostly the kind that pour. Keep your cooking oil, and check that fish shows up twice a week.
- Over your line: look at the biggest source the scorer names and try its one swap. It's often butter, cheese or fatty meat, and the scorer shows how many grams the swap takes off.
- Over by 10 g or more: there's often a second big source. Change the first one, then run the day again.
- Your LDL is already high: the same swap is the food change that moves it. cholesterol.guide works out by how much, and your doctor decides if food is enough.
What brought you here?
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I'm trying to lose weightFat has 9 calories a gram, and low fat and low carb lost the same in a year -
Which oil should I cook with?One oil for most cooking, one for the hottest jobs -
I keep hearing seed oils are toxicEach claim against what the trials found -
I heard butter is healthy nowWhat the 2026 guidelines changed, and what they kept -
Should I take fish oil?A 25,871-person trial, and the fish that does the job -
My cholesterol came back highThe fat swap, and where the rest of the plan lives -
I'm reading food labelsWhy the 20 g on the label may not be your number -
I eat keto or low carbKeep the carbs low and change the fat -
I'm vegan or vegetarianPlant omega-3, and the one source of EPA and DHA -
I'm on a GLP-1Why greasy food sits badly, and what sits better -
I'm pregnant or breastfeedingHow much fish, and which ones -
I'm feeding kidsWhole milk is back in schools. What that means -
Heart disease runs in my familyWhat saturated fat does, and what cutting it did in trials
Three things that surprise people
11.2 g Coconut oil is more saturated than butter: about 83% of its fat against butter's 62%. A tablespoon is half a 2,000 calorie day's line.
Compare them
70% Three cups of whole milk, the 2026 guidelines' dairy goal, hold 15.3 g of saturated fat, about 70% of a 2,000 calorie day's 22 g line.
Your line
386 vs 419 In VITAL, 25,871 people took fish oil or a placebo for five years. Major heart events: 386 against 419, not a real difference.
Check your bottleThe questions people ask
How much
How much fat should I eat a day?20 to 35% of your calories, about 44 to 78 g on 2,000. The kind of fat counts for more than the total, so keep saturated fat under 10%.
How much fat should I eat on 1,500 calories?About 33 to 58 g of fat, with saturated fat under 17 g. A tablespoon of butter would be 7.2 of those.
How much saturated fat should a woman eat a day?The same 10% line as everyone. On 1,600 calories that's about 18 g, on 1,800 about 20 g, so the label's 20 g can be more than your line.- How much saturated fat should I eat a day?Under 10% of your calories: about 22 g on 2,000 calories, 17 g on 1,500, 28 g on 2,500 (2025 to 2030 US guidelines). The tool works out yours.
How much saturated fat should I eat with high cholesterol?Under 10% is the US line for everyone. With high LDL, swapping saturated fat for vegetable oils is the change that moves it. cholesterol.guide sizes it for your number.
Is 20 g of saturated fat a day too much?On 2,000 calories it's 9%, just under the line. On 1,500 it's 12%, over. The 20 g on labels is a fixed Daily Value, so check it against your own calories.
Saturated fat
- Is saturated fat bad for you?It raises LDL, and in 15 trials cutting it meant 17% fewer heart events. Swap it for olive, canola or other plant oils, the swap with the best evidence.
- What are healthy fats?Mostly the unsaturated ones in olive and canola oil, nuts, seeds, avocado and oily fish. Eaten in place of butter and fatty meat, they lower LDL.
- What foods are high in saturated fat?Coconut oil (11.2 g a tablespoon), butter (7.2), cheese (6.0 an ounce), fatty beef, cream and pastry. In US diets, sandwiches and burgers carry the most.
- What is saturated fat?Fat whose chains are straight, so they stack tight and stay solid at room temperature. Butter, cheese, fatty meat, coconut and palm oil have the most.
What's the easiest way to cut saturated fat?Change your cooking fat. Olive or canola oil in place of a daily tablespoon of butter takes off 5.4 to 6.2 g, about a quarter of your line, with one bottle.
Why does saturated fat raise cholesterol?It slows the liver's LDL receptors, the drain that pulls LDL out of the blood, so more stays in. cholesterol.guide has the numbers.
Oils and spreads
Avocado oil or olive oil?They're close cousins, both mostly monounsaturated with 1.6 to 1.8 g of saturated fat a tablespoon. In one lab test the olive oil smoked later. Pick by taste.- How much saturated fat is in butter?7.2 g a tablespoon, about a third of a 2,000 calorie day's line. About 62% of butter's fat is saturated. Ghee is the same fat, a little more concentrated.
Is beef tallow healthy?The 2026 guidelines list it as an option, after olive oil. A tablespoon has 6.4 g of saturated fat, about half its fat. Use it for flavor, and count it.- Is butter worse than olive oil?For your heart, yes. Butter has 7.2 g of saturated fat a tablespoon, olive oil 1.8. Swapping 10 g of butter a day for plant oils went with 17% fewer deaths.
Is canola oil bad for you?No. It has 1.0 g of saturated fat a tablespoon, near the lowest of any oil, and in a 33-year US study more canola went with fewer deaths. Long frying is its weak spot.
Is coconut oil healthy?It's the most saturated cooking fat, about 83%, and raised LDL about 10 mg/dL against plant oils in 16 trials. Use it for flavor and keep a plant oil for every day.
Omega-3 and fish
Can fish oil cause an irregular heartbeat?In seven big heart trials, fish oil raised the risk of atrial fibrillation about 25%, and about half above 1 g a day. Ask your doctor before high doses.
How do vegans get omega-3?ALA is easy from flax, chia and walnuts, but the body turns only a little into EPA and DHA. Algae oil carries EPA and DHA directly, from the sea algae that make them.- How many fish oil capsules should I take a day?Check the back of the bottle, since a 1,000 mg capsule means 1,000 mg of oil. Eat fish first. Over 1 g a day of EPA and DHA, talk to your doctor.
How much fish should I eat while pregnant?The FDA says 8 to 12 ounces a week while pregnant or breastfeeding, 2 to 3 servings from its lowest-mercury list, like salmon, sardines and trout.- How much omega-3 do I need a day?The US advice is fish: at least 8 ounces a week. Of salmon, sardines or trout, that's about 280 to 700 mg of EPA and DHA a day. The counter does yours.
What foods are high in omega-3?Oily fish, like salmon, herring, mackerel, sardines and trout, for EPA and DHA. Chia, walnuts, ground flax and canola oil for the plant kind. Food first, capsule second.
Fat in foods
- How much fat is in an avocado?About 5 g an ounce (a fifth of one), mostly monounsaturated, with under 1 g saturated. A whole one has about five times that.
- Is cheese high in saturated fat?Yes. An ounce of cheddar has 6.0 g, more than a quarter of a 2,000 calorie day's line. Strong cheese goes further, so you can use less.
Is full-fat dairy healthy?The 2026 guidelines say include it, with no added sugar, and keep saturated fat under 10%. A cup of whole milk has 5.1 g, so count it.- Should kids drink whole milk?Pediatricians advise whole milk from 1 to 2, then lower-fat milk. The 2026 US guidelines favor full-fat dairy for kids, and schools can serve whole milk again.
Special cases
Why do fatty foods make me nauseous on Ozempic?GLP-1 drugs slow how fast the stomach empties, and a big fatty meal slows it more. Smaller meals with less fat usually sit better.- Why is my LDL high on keto?Butter, cream and fatty meat can push LDL up a lot in some people. Keep the carbs low and change the fat. The study saying plaque didn't follow it was retracted in 2026.
Myth or fact?
No Eating fat makes you fat
Not the way you think Saturated fat is fine now, so butter is back
Yes, but Full-fat dairy is fine now, so eat all you want
No You shouldn't cook with olive oil because of its smoke point
Sort of Avocado oil is the best oil for high heat
Not the way you think You need to fix your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio
Quick tools
How much saturated fat a day?
Your line in grams at 10% of your calories, beside the label's fixed 20 g.
How much fat a day?
Total fat at 20 to 35% of your calories, with the saturated line inside it and the essential fats under it.
Oil compare
Two of 13 cooking fats side by side, a tablespoon each, with the smoke point where one was measured.
The omega-3 counter
Your fish and capsules in EPA and DHA a day, against the US fish advice, with plant omega-3 on its own line.
The fish oil label check
What one capsule really gives you, from the back of the bottle.
Claim by claimAre seed oils bad for you?No. Swapped in for butter, seed oils lower LDL, and trials found no rise in inflammation. The fried and packaged foods they often come in are what to eat less of. The guide
The core idea
Good fats, bad fats: swap the solid ones for fats that pour
One test sorts good fats from bad. Swap the fats that sit solid on your counter for ones that pour, and eat fish twice a week.
The four fats, and why some are solid
How much fat, and how much saturated fat?
What saturated fat does
Where the saturated fat in your day comes from- Oils in the kitchen
Omega-3 and omega-6
Trans fat: mostly gone, not all
When the advice changes
How to check your swap worked
What the 2026 dietary guidelines changed about fat
With Gyroscope One, every meal photo shows its fat types, and every blood test grades and trends your LDL and ApoB, so you can see whether the swap moved them. Open Gyroscope
