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The 1995 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (1) recommend that, after the age of 2 y, "children should gradually adopt a diet that, by about 5 y of age, contains no more than 30% of calories from fat." This recommendation was based on the interpretation of evidence available at the time to indicate that the relation between dietary saturated fat intake and atherosclerotic heart disease began in childhood (2); that a reduction in total fat intake was a means of reducing saturated fat intake; that increased dietary fat intake was a contributor to the development of obesity (3, 4), which in itself is a risk factor for heart disease; and that excessive dietary fat intake may promote the development of other morbid conditions in adult life. Furthermore, the recommendation appeared appropriate in the context of the population's changing dietary habits because there was a declining secular trend in the fat intakes of children in the United States (5–7) and no systematic evidence that fat intakes within the recommended range were detrimental to children. Nonetheless, the recommendation generated considerable debate after its release (8, 9). This colloquium, therefore, was convened to review the data available on the issues raised above. An international perspective was considered desirable because the diets of children worldwide differ in both the amounts and types of fats consumed, American children are not likely to be biologically unique in their responses to dietary fat intake, and available data should receive broad and comprehensive interpretation. The following articles represent the results of the colloquium's exposition and analysis.
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