Low and high intake of fat consumption regardless of its kind can jeopardize personal and public health. Despite the importance of quality and quantity of fat in the diet and its relationship with some chronic disorders such as coronary heart disease, some types of cancers, obesity and diabetes, the consumption pattern of fats and their . constituent fatty acids have not yet been assessed in our country. The purpose of this study was to determine the pattern of edible fat consumption in IO provinces of our country. To this aim, the type and amount of fatty acids in Iranian dishes were calculated using the available food composition tables and the existing data. Then data from the household food consumption survey in the provinces were employed to calculated total saturated, mono unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids as
cholesterol, essential and ro-3 fatty acids in each province in total and in relation to urban and rural distribution. The studied provinces were Tehran, Hormozgan, Bushehr, Mazandaran, Kennan , Yazd, Kohguiluyeh and Boyer-Alunad, Hamedan, Charmahal­Balclitiari and West Azarbayjan.
It was shown that percentage of energy derived from fats was within the recommended range (WHO) of 15-30 % and it was always higher in urban regions than rural ones. In addition, consumption of saturated fatty acids was high in 7 out of the 10 provinces and consumption percentage of unsaturated, especially polyunsaturated fatty acids was below the recommended levels in all of the provinces . Also, The PUFS/SF A ratio was very low (0.14-0.22). Intake oflinoleic acid was satisfactory in all provinces except rural areas of Kerman and Kohguiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad provinces. For the latter provinces, intake of linolenic acid was below the recommended level. Furthermore, consumption of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic fatty acids were considerably lower than recommended level except for the province of Hormozgan.