J. Lynne Brown, PhD, RD Responds:

J. Lynne Brown, PhD, RD, associate professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, responds: Fat and cholesterol are two separate food components that don't always go hand in hand. Plant foods (legumes, soy, grains, vegetables, fruits) and products made from them contain no cholesterol. 

Cholesterol is found only in animal foods, like beef, chicken, eggs, fish, dairy and pork and products that contain these foods. However, both animal and plant foods often contain fat—usually a blend of saturated and unsaturated (monounsaturated, polyunsaturated) fats. There are trans fats, too, that act more like saturated fat in the body. The amount of saturated fat and unsaturated fat vary, depending on the food. Looking specifically at fats and oils, for example, olive oil contains mostly monounsaturated fat (77%) with smaller amounts of both saturated (14%) and polyunsaturated (9%) fats. 

Chicken fat, because it comes from an animal, contains a higher amount of saturated fat (31%), plus 47% monounsaturated, and 22% polyunsaturated fat. Whether a food is a healthy choice or not depends on the amount of fat and what kinds of fat it contains. Saturated fat and trans fats are the ones to cut back on, because they tend to raise your LDL (bad) blood cholesterol. Overall, experts recommend eating a diet that's low in fat, particularly in saturated fat, and cholesterol to help decrease risk of heart disease. Look for products that are low in total fat and saturated fat.