What Role Does Fat Play in the Diet?

The 30% Rule

In a healthy diet, the amount of fat shouldn’t make up more than 30%.

Many people take up much more calories from fat than that. 'Hidden' fats often go unnoticed.

It is not always easy to know which nutrients should be taken up in which amounts. That is also a fault of food labelling. The nutrients are stated on every product, but the relative amounts and the total calorific value are missing on many foods like snacks and sweets, where they would actually be a big help.

In the case of fat intake, everybody can stick to the 30% rule by itself. If you multiply the fat content in grams by 9 (1 g fat gives 9 kcal) and by 100 (so that you get the percentage) and divide it by the number of total calories, you will get the percentage of the calories from fat.

An example: A bun consists of 263 kcal and contains 1.8 g of fat.