Everybody should really know the difference between the different types of fats. The provision of information is thus an important point for attention. Manufacturers can react to this by providing clear information on the label, making nutritional value declarations, using logos and providing websites with information and recipes.

Note

The data quoted here is largely taken from a report from the Netherlands Nutrition Centre prepared in 2007. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre in collaboration with the Netherlands Heart Foundation instructed the research office Motivaction to research the knowledge, attitude and need for information of consumers with reference to fats, particularly saturated fat.

Becel Heart monitor

Another piece of consumer research, though, the Becel Heart monitor, shows a less favourable picture.
Read more

From this it appeared that only half of the people were aware of the fact that some fats are good and some bad for the heart and the blood vessels, and one in five did not know what cholesterol is. People are very concerned about the health of their heart, but a large proportion (80%) is not aware that adopting a healthy diet and way of life can do a great deal to improve the health of the heart.

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Factsheet Consumer knowledge about fats

What do people know about fats?

The Motivaction research showed that knowledge about fat is good and this knowledge has increased compared with a few years ago.

Nine out of ten people in the Netherlands know that there are different sorts of fat. More than half named saturated and unsaturated fat spontaneously and when helped almost everybody knew the difference. Almost 70% knew that unsaturated fat is the healthiest. This was about 60% in 2004.

The research carried out by Motivaction showed that omega-3 fatty acids are even less known, only 3% named this type of fat spontaneously, but when helped the awareness was high, almost 80%. However, 65 % eat less fish (contains omega-3 fatty acids) than is recommended (Becel Heart monitor). Further, the awareness, when helped, of trans fatty acids has increased: 19% had heard of them and three-quarters of these knew that they were unhealthy. In 2004, only 7% recognized this type of fat.

People in the higher social classes know more about fat than those in the lower classes. They are more aware of the existence of healthy and less healthy fats and find it important to be careful about these.

Almost nine out of ten consumers know where they can find information about fat, but still more than half would like more information about fats in the future. There is in particular a need for a list of products containing healthy and unhealthy fats, recipes for tasty and healthy food or logos to help consumers to stimulate healthy choices such as ‘My Choice’ or the ‘Healthy choice clover’. Young people (18-24 years) value these logos more than people in other age groups. Older people (55-65 years) want clear information on the label more than anything else.