How much fat should I eat per day? Rob Hobson AMA

Our nutritionist Rob Hobson will be answering your most pressing nutrition-related questions each month. We'll host the Q&A on Instagram each month and then include Rob's answers in our newsletter! Your question this week was:

How much fat should I eat per day?

Rob: I’m not a fan of counting macros but for those of you that like numbers then the recommendation for fat in the diet is no more than 35% of your daily energy intake. To work this out, fat contains 9 calories per gram so if your daily energy intake is 1500 calories then 35% of this is 525 calories and if you divide this by 9 that equates to 58g of fat.

Life is way too short for number crunching so focus more on including the beneficial types of fat in your diet. Healthy fats include monounsaturated (nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado) and omega 3’s (oily fish), which have been shown to be hugely beneficial to heath as they help to reduce inflammation and protect the heart as well as helping the body to absorb fat-soluble nutrients such as the vitamins A, D, E and K.

There is some disagreement amongst experts regarding saturated fat, but my advice would be to worry less about whether you eat full fat Greek yoghurt or spread butter on your toast and just try to avoid processed foods that are not only high in saturated fat but also contain large amounts of salt and sugar.

Rob Hobson is a registered nutritionist (BSc, MSc, AFN), published author and food writer. Rob has 15 years of experience working with some of the UK’s leading food companies, government agencies, NHS and private clients as well as regularly writing in the media for publications including the Daily Mail online.