I keep reading that some fats are good for you - which are they

asks mayastar:
A. When you're constantly warned about the dangers of eating too much fat, you'd be inclined to think that all fats are bad - they aren't. In fact, you need to have fat in your diet.

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Q. Why
A. Well, you need it to carry the fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, betacarotene, E and K) around your body. And some essential fats are vital for good health. Unfortunately, the typical UK diet contains far too much of the wrong kind of fat.

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Q. Which are good and bad fats
A. There are three kinds of fat: saturated, which comes mainly from meat and dairy products; and monounsaturated and polyunsaturated which come mainly from fish, nuts, seeds and vegetables.

You don't need saturated or monounsaturated fats for health - although your body can use them as energy, but we couldn't survive without the essential fatty acids called omega-6 and omega-3, which are found in polyunsaturated fat.

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Q. What do these essential fats do
A. Omega-6 and omega-3 are used to make cell membranes, brain tissue and prostaglandins - hormone-like substances that regulate blood pressure, cholesterol levels, sex hormones, fertility, allergies, immune function and more.

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You can only get these essential fats from food, but they are easily damaged by processing and frying, so they can be hard to find in a modern diet.

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Q. How can you make sure you're getting enough
A. Nutritionists believe that getting the right balance of these fats is important. We need about four times as much omega-6 fat as omega-3 fat, but a typical Western diet contains about 20 times as much. So most people need to up their omega-3 intake.

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Q. How can I do that
A. Eat two portions of oily fish a week - or take an omega-3 or fish oil supplement. You can also swap sunflower oil for rapeseed and soya oils, which have a good balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fats.

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Q. Are there any fat 'baddies'
A. Yes, saturated fat and trans fat.

• Saturated fat raises the levels of 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol in the blood. There are two types of cholesterol - low-density lipoproteins (LDL), which carry cholesterol through the bloodstream; and high-density lipoproteins (HDL), which are thought to remove excess cholesterol. .
• Vegetable oils are turned into�hard fats by a process called hydrogenation. This creates trans fatty acids, which work like saturates. They're found in almost all processed or baked foods (you'll find them on the label as 'partially hydrogenated' or 'hydrogenated' vegetable oil).

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By Sheena Miller