Invisible Fat Intake from Indian Dietaries

Average consumption of fat per se in India, in the form of vegetable oil, vanaspati, and butter or ghee, is known from dietary surveys to be about 10 to 20 grams daily. A large segment of the population, sometimes stated to be a third, is believed to use no fat at all. Yet it is obvious that most of the foodstuffs commonly consumed contain some quantity of fat, however small, which cumulatively could be important to the individual. This note attempts to examine the amount of such invisible fat in certain regional Indian dietaries, and its nutritional quality in respect of the level of the essential fatty acid, linoleic. Because of the many uncertainties involved, the present estimates represent only first approximations to the real situation.