Vegetable oil is a growing part of our diet.

Beginning in the 1960s, researchers began to make clear connections between the intake of saturated fats and coronary heart disease. With the call for people to eat more unsaturated fats, consumers shifted toward vegetable oils, which are a natural, convenient source of such fats.

Since 1995, the global per capita consumption of oils and fats has risen from 15.6 to 23.4 kilograms per year, with vegetable oil assuming a larger percentage, 82 vs. 78 percent, of total fat intake.