Development and evaluation of a method to assess nutritional quality of dietary lipids in food

Recommendations to limit dietary saturated fat intake to prevent chronic diseases have been issued by many organizations and advisory bodies. However, new scientific findings suggest that not all saturated fats have a detrimental effect for cardiovascular diseases. In addition, a large body of evidence suggests that unsaturated fats have a positive impact on health. The health impact of individual fatty acids is also modulated by the food matrix and the quantity and quality of other macronutrients in a food. Therefore, a more holistic approach to assess the nutritional quality of fat in the diet is needed. The project aims to develop and validate a new method (algorithm, score, or index) to evaluate and communicate about the quality of fats in foods and in food products. The project will also study if the new method correlates with the healthfulness of different product categories and diets, as well as relevant biomarkers