Manzano Day School

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Nurse's Notes: Oils and Fats

Oils are not a food group, but they provide essential nutrients. Therefore, oils are included in USDA dietary guidelines. Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature and come from many different plants and from fish.

Some common oils are canola oil, corn oil, olive oil, and soybean oil. Some oils are used in cooking and some oils are mainly used as flavorings, such as walnut oil and sesame oil. A number of foods are naturally high in oils, for example, nuts, olives, some fish, and avocados. Foods that are mainly oil include mayonnaise, certain salad dressings, and soft margarine.

Most oils are high in monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats, and low in saturated fats. Oils from plant sources do not contain any cholesterol. A few plant oils, however, including coconut oil, palm oil, and palm kernel oil, are high in saturated fats and should be considered solid fats.

Solid fats are fats that are solid at room temperature, like butter and shortening. Solid fats come from many animal foods and can be made from vegetable oils through a process called hydrogenation. Some common solid fats are butter, stick margarine, shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils.

Most Americans consume enough oil in the foods they eat, such as nuts, fish, cooking oil, and salad dressing. Others could easily consume the recommended allowance by substituting oils for some solid fats they eat. A person's allowance for oils depends on age, gender, and level of physical activity. Daily allowances are demonstrated in the graph below.


For more information regarding oils and fats, including the amount of calories in commonly used oils visit the ChooseMyPlate.gov.