Leading Australian Organisations

In this section you will find some useful advice from leading Australian organisations, to help you make healthier spread choices.

Dietary Guidelines for Australians - A guide to healthy eating

The Dietary Guidelines for Australians is published by the National Health and Medical Research Council and is a set of recommendations on making healthy food choices.The recommendation on fats and oils in our diets has evolved with each new revision of the guidelines, to the current recommendation for Adults, Children and Adolecents: Limit saturated fat and moderate total fat intake. NOTE Low-fat diets are not suitable for infants.

This reflects the findings of much scientific research which shows that the type of fat in your diet is just as important in determining your health risk as the amount of fat.

For more information visit the National Health and Medical Research Council website.

The Heart Foundation

A major review recently undertaken by the Heart Foundation highlighted that Australians are consuming too much saturated fat.

This review highlighted a number of ways Australians can reduce their saturated fat intake. One way is to:
Swap butter for a margarine spread – just by doing this with your daily toast and sandwich you will save 2.85kg of saturated fat from your diet in one year*. (*Based on a daily 20g serve)

For other ways to reduce your saturated fat intake, and for independent healthy eating advice click here to visit the Heart Foundation website.

Dietitians Association of Australia

What's the best type of fat for a healthy heart?

Answer: As with all healthy eating, the key is moderation. Enjoy moderate amounts of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats.

To help you do this try to use:

Margarine spreads instead of butter or dairy blends at the table and in recipes
A variety of oils for cooking - some suitable choices include canola and sunflower
Also try to avoid saturated fat and trans fats as they can be harmful for your heart. To help you do this try to use:

     - Lean meat
     - Low fat dairy
     - Limited amounts of extra foods such as biscuits, pastry and chips
     - Use margarines that list trans fat as <1g per 100g

Click here for more information or to find an Accredited Practising Dietitian in your local area.

CSIRO

The recommendation from the CSIRO is that polyunsaturated margarines can be an effective substitute for butter for those people wishing to lower their blood cholesterol levels.

Fast facts

CSIRO carries out research to find dietary strategies for improving health
One in two Australians has higher than desirable blood cholesterol levels
Using polyunsaturated margarines instead of butter can help lower cholesterol significantly
Look for margarines with low (less than two per cent) or no trans fatty acids

For more information click here to visit the CSIRO website.