Starch provides less than half the calories of the same weight of fat. However, adding concentrated sources of calories, such as fat, to starchy foods, for example cooking potatoes in oil or fat, greatly increases their calorie content. There is growing evidence that diets rich in fruit and vegetables reduce the likelihood of developing chronic diseases, such as coronary heart disease and possibly some cancers, in later life. Currently many people would benefit from increasing the amount of fruit and vegetables that they eat. A balanced diet contains at least five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
Some fat is needed in the diet.
Certain fats are essential to health, some contain vitamins and they help to make foods pleasant to eat. However, many people eat far more fat than they need, and a diet high in fat in addition to other factors including smoking and lack of exercise, can increase the risk of heart disease. It is easy to spot some fat, like the fat on the outside of meat, fat spreads and so on. But there is a lot of fat which cannot be seen, in pastry, most types of pies, cakes, biscuits, chocolate, and some meat products like sausages and burgers and their vegetarian alternatives. Most labels show the fat content of food, and there are many lower fat versions of foods available in the shops.