The purpose of this paper was to identify broad patterns of dietary lipids intake in the world and to assess their health implications. Household budget surveys are a valuable source of information that have been long overlooked, even though they allow assessment of within-region variability according to sociodemographic variables. With respect to per capita dietary lipids intake at a national level, four different patterns can be identified: high total dietary lipids, high intake of mostly saturated animal lipids; high total dietary lipids, low animal lipids; moderate total dietary lipids, low to moderate animals lipids; and low total dietary lipids, low animal lipids. Over time, animal lipids intake tends to decrease in countries with the first intake pattern and consumption of saturated animal lipids and polyunsaturated plant lipids-the latter frequently partly hydrogenated-tends to increase in most of the other populations. Of the visible dietary lipids, vegetable oils have been gradually assuming greater importance, with North America showing the largest absolute increase in availability per capita over the past 30 y. Studies have shown that olive oil, which is essentially a monounsaturated oil, increases high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and reduces low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, promoting in a balanced way a desirable blood lipid profile. Although concerns have been raised about the long-term safety of some trans fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, epidemiologic studies suggest that olive oil may have beneficial effects not only on cardiovascular health but also on the development of several malignancies including breast cancer.