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Is beef tallow making a comeback?

nytimes.com

41–50 of 167 posts

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beef tallow has a favorable omega 6 to omega 3 ratio and low levels of PUFAs, compared to seed oils and other cooking fats. I recommend reading the article.

> tallow has a favorable omega 6 to omega 3 ratio Source for Americans needing more omega-6-fatty-acid intake? > seed oils Do we have evidence around seed oils? Or is this the new homeopathy?

There's little evidence surrounding seed oils - https://dynomight.net/seed-oil/

I expect that, to the extent there's a problem, it's that they are an additive to most packaged/ultra-processed food products which can be non-satiating, and therefore boosts overall consumption of fats and calories. Sugar of course is another component.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go look up the studies of actual outcome data when replacing saturated fats with seed oils. Seed oils do much better

Are you sure? Sydney heart diet study: Seed oil group had something like 62% higher death rate. Minnesota coronary experiment: replaced saturated fats with seed oil, cholesterol dropped, but for every 30 mg/dL drop risk of death went up something like 20%. Several recent meta analyses also indicate no real benefit migrating from saturated fats to seed oils. The only silver lining I have seen is there is some evidence…

I don't have time to look into the sydney heart study but I know for the minnesota experiment they, not knowing how bad it was at the time, used margarine with high trans fats as the replacements. Also had a huge 95% drop out rate

Actually on a quick check the sydney study looks to be the exact same

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go look up the studies of actual outcome data when replacing saturated fats with seed oils. Seed oils do much better

Are you sure? Sydney heart diet study: Seed oil group had something like 62% higher death rate. Minnesota coronary experiment: replaced saturated fats with seed oil, cholesterol dropped, but for every 30 mg/dL drop risk of death went up something like 20%. Several recent meta analyses also indicate no real benefit migrating from saturated fats to seed oils. The only silver lining I have seen is there is some evidence…

Look at a meta review. There are a ton of these studies and the overwhelming evidence is that saturated fat is associated with CVD and ACM, PUFAs are not.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#44
post #32
post #20

It's kind of mentioned in the article, but I'm more comfortable cooking with lard than either tallow or oil based on the current evidence. Avoiding UPF is probably the most important factor though.

>but I'm more comfortable cooking with lard than either tallow or oil based on the current evidence How is lard meaningfully different than tallow or vegetable oil? Being animal fat, isn't it approximately the same as tallow?

The concern I have with vegetable oil is if you heat it past the smoke point, you end up creating toxic compounds. The saturated fats are most stable.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3t902pqt3C7nGN99hV...

I prefer lard because it's slightly lower in saturated than tallow, and doesn't alter taste so much.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#45
post #38
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fundamental problem with UPF isn't the nutritional qualities of the food. It's the _process_ itself. UPF is basically derived from A/B testing food continuously to making it (a) highly consumable and (b) low cost. Repeat that process over decades and thousands of times and you get overconsumption of shit food.

I think you mean highly palatable . Hyperpalatability is a real problem. But that's not intrinsic to "ultra-processing"; there are lots of reasons to "ultra-process" foods that aren't about maximizing caloric input.

No, I mean consumable, as in spending dollars to buy a product. Palatability is an input to consumption. It drives consumption and profit.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#47
post #45
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you mean highly palatable . Hyperpalatability is a real problem. But that's not intrinsic to "ultra-processing"; there are lots of reasons to "ultra-process" foods that aren't about maximizing caloric input.

No, I mean consumable, as in spending dollars to buy a product. Palatability is an input to consumption. It drives consumption and profit.

I mean, that's not as far as I know an actual commonly-used metric but it's closely enough aligned with hyperpalatability that I think the distinction doesn't matter.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#48
As an outside observer of this beef tallow trend, it looks to me a lot like a fad driven by some internalized machismo: "It's not proper food if it's not from a dead animal." While this is not unique to the US, apparently believers of this in the US reached a critical mass enough to make it public policy.

I don't doubt that one can find health benefits in beef tallow. But I also vividly remember ads in the 80s and 90s that promoted the health benefits of seed oils and margarines, which years later proved to be cherry-picked facts. So, I'm skeptical on whether we have the same thing happening, only now it is beef tallow that is promoted by cherry-picking studies.

And frankly, RFKs "new pyramid" is at least misguided, if not worse. Bread and grains at the bottom of the pyramid make no sense. In mediterranean countries (e.g. Italy, Greece, Spain) bread and pasta are on the table in ample quantities every single day. And guess who has longer life expectancy than the US.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#50
post #28
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

UPF as in ultra-processed food? UPF designations are farcical; they're a modern formally-ratified instance of the naturalist fallacy. There are attributes of ultra-processed foods that are bad, but it's not the ultra-processing that makes it so; it's a very "correlation is causation" situation.

The fundamental problem with UPF isn't the nutritional qualities of the food. It's the _process_ itself. UPF is basically derived from A/B testing food continuously to making it (a) highly consumable and (b) low cost. Repeat that process over decades and thousands of times and you get overconsumption of shit food.

Large part of the molecules of my body were created by supernova
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