Q: If someone has a high blood cholesterol level, are peanut butter, olive oil and dark chocolate appropriate foods for a heart-healthy diet?

CHARLOTTE SAVIGNAC, Atlanta

CHRIS ROSENBLOOM FIT TO EAT Have a question of general interest? E-mail Rosenbloom Related: • More on food and drink • Restaurant reviews and search More Rosenbloom You can work '101 Foods' into your diet  Know your nutrition: A quick quiz for fall  Three to be careful with in healthy diet  Grapefruit, cancer link considered preliminary  Beta carotene powers orange fruits, veggies  Our levels of the 'sunshine' vitamin decrease as we age  'Repair' muscles after long-distance running  Food-drug interaction an important issue  • Chris Rosenbloom, Ph.D., R.D., is a member of the nutrition faculty in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Georgia State University.

A: This is a question that many readers have asked, so let's look at all three of these foods in more detail.

According to the Peanut Institute (www.peanut-institute.org), Americans eat about 700 million pounds of peanut butter every year, and half of all the peanuts grown are made into peanut butter, so we're eating a lot of it.

The good news is that peanuts and peanut butter contain oleic acid, a monounsaturated heart-healthy fat. The key to using peanut butter is to use small amounts (2 tablespoons per serving) and to use it to replace saturated fat.

One serving of peanut butter contains 190 calories and 16 grams of fat (or about 3 teaspoons of fat) with a small amount (3 grams) of saturated fat and no cholesterol. A peanut butter sandwich for lunch is a good idea, but eating a burger and fries for lunch and snacking on peanut butter and crackers in the afternoon would increase your fat intake and not help to reduce the "bad" fat found in the burger and fries. While you may prefer natural peanut butter to commercially prepared, there is not a lot of nutritional difference. Natural peanut butter isn't blended or homogenized, so it has to be stirred to blend the oil that separates during storage. Commercial peanut butter contains about 1 gram more of saturated fat than natural versions and may contain a little more sodium, but not that much more (150 milligrams sodium for commercial peanut butter vs. 120 milligrams for natural types).

• Olive oil is another heart-healthy fat and a key ingredient in a Mediterranean eating plan. People who live in regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea have lower rates of heart disease despite a high fat intake.

Olive oil is the predominant fat used for cooking, and the diet of people in this region is also high in seafood, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, with lower amounts of meats and processed foods. You can use olive oil for most of your cooking and for making salad dressings and sauces, but always remember that all fat — good and bad fat — contains the same amount of calories. One tablespoon of oil has 130 calories, so if weight management is an issue, be careful about the amount of oil that you use.

• Chocolate is everyone's new health food. Dark chocolate is rich in plant compounds called flavonoids. Studies show that flavonoids can help prevent blood clots, make blood vessels less stiff and lower blood pressure in some people.

However, not all chocolate is created equal when it comes to these health benefits. When cocoa is made into candy, the processing causes a loss of flavonoids. Dark chocolate retains more flavonoids than milk chocolate and cocoa that has not been processed by alkalization is another good choice. You might also have seen that some chocolate manufacturers are making products that have retained the good compounds and these are usually sold in the health food section of your grocery store.

For example, a line of chocolate goodies from Mars called "CocoaVia" contains higher levels of flavonoids than most chocolate candy. All chocolate should be consumed in moderation, because it is still high in calories and total fat.