Butter, Margarine, Vegetable Oils, and Olive Oil in the Average Polish Diet

The main aim of this study was to identify the sources of energy and 25 nutrients in fats and oils in the average Polish diet. We analyzed energy, total fat, saturated fatty acids (SFAs), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), cholesterol, protein, carbohydrates, nine minerals, and nine vitamins. We included five sub-groups: butter, vegetable oils, margarine and other hydrogenated vegetable fats, olive oil, and other animal fats. The basis for our analysis was data from the 2016 household budget survey, conducted on a representative sample of the Polish population (36,886 households, n = 99,230). We used the cluster analysis to assess the impact of socio-demographic and economic factors on the volume of fats and oil consumption and on the share of particular products in the supply of energy and nutrients. Our findings indicated that fats and oils contributed 32.9% of the total fat supply, which placed these products in first position among main food groups. Meat and its products ranked second (30.8%) in the total fat supply, while milk and dairy products, including cream (13.4%), were the third food group. The second position in the total fat supply was taken by meat and its products (30.8%), and the third place was taken by milk and dairy products, including cream (13.4%). The supply of fatty acids from fats and oils varied and ranged from 45.6% for PUFA to 31.5% for MUFA to 27.8% for SFA. The supply of cholesterol was at the level of 8.3%. Our research has proven that fats and oils are an important source of vitamin E, providing almost half of the daily supply of this vitamin to the average Polish diet. The supply of vitamin A and D equaled 16–18% of their total daily intake. In the cluster analysis, we identified five clusters that differed in the consumption of butter, oils, margarine and other vegetable fats, olive oil, and other animal fats. The variables with most differentiating clusters were: education level, income (in quintile groups of households), degree of urbanization of the place of household residence, and socio-economic type of the household. Our results indicate a high share of fats and oils in the total fat supply and should be used to evaluate the diets from a nutritional and health point of view.