Weekend fat binges 'damage health'

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A survey of 11,000 households including about 25,000 people found their typical weekend diets contained saturated fat at levels well above recommended guidelines, the study for Unilever found.

A weekend fry-up with buttered toast and a cappuccino contains 33.7g of saturated fat. The recommended daily limit of saturated fat is 30g for men and 20g for women.

The study found consumption of saturated fat could increase to 61g for men and 33g for women on weekend days.

High levels of saturated fat can raise blood cholesterol, particularly low density lipoprotein cholesterol, which is a risk factor for coronary heart disease.

Coronary heart disease is the UK's biggest killer, with one in every four men, and one in every six women dying from the disease. Approximately 300,000 people have a heart attack in the UK each year.

Dietician Sian Porter said: "The results suggest a serious lack of awareness among the public about how much saturated fat they consume on a daily basis and a lack of knowledge concerning the need to reduce their overall consumption.

"The statistics are, at best, conservative, so the real picture of the Sat Fataday binge weekend could be dramatically worse."

The average 40-year-old man consumes 61g of saturated fat on a weekend day from a diet including buttered toast (11.6g), a cheese sandwich (11g) sausage roll (11g), pizza (18g) and chips (15g), chocolate (9.8g), crisps (2.6g) and a full-fat milky coffee (2.6g), according to the study.

An average woman of the same age eats more than 30g of saturated fat on a weekend day - 50% more than guidelines advise - on food such as a croissant (11.7g), buttered jam and toast (11.6g), beans on buttered toast (11.6g), pizza (18g), chips (15g), ice cream (5.7g) and cake (9.8g).