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Is beef tallow making a comeback?

nytimes.com

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Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#101

Post by graemep »

bloaf wrote: post #60
getpost wrote: post #30

Brad Marshall[0] makes a case for the benefits of stearic acid (C18:0), which is predominant in beef tallow and cocoa butter. It acts as a beneficial metabolic signal that promotes mitochondrial fat oxidation, higher energy expenditure, and leanness—counteracting the obesogenic effects of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), especially linoleic acid. [0] https://fireinabottle.net/every-fire-in-a-bottle-post-from-t... EDIT:…

We all know there has been a replication crisis across many different disciplines of science. I think that the set of things we actually know about nutrition and health is a lot smaller than the experts think. However, the problem is that the public has also come to that conclusion. The public has gone on to decide "that means my incredibly weakly-evidenced idea is just as good as the expert opinions" which does not…

I think the experts and the media are to blame.

The public are presented with things that are weakly evidenced as scientifically proven. After all, the one study that says something is good or bad for you was published in a peer-reviewed journal and the university PR people blogged about it and the newspapers reported it uncritically.

A lot of experts are very bad at differing between different levels of evidence and probability: "my personal (if expert) opinion", "a consensus in the field" and "backed by reasonable evidence" and "proven" are very different but all often get presented the same way.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#102

Post by an0malous »

bowmessage wrote: post #8
Workaccount2 wrote: post #5

RFK's playbook is to wake up, check what the crunchy moms on instagram are cackling about, issue policy based on the comments sections.

Remove whatever politics you might believe from the equation. Is beef tallow a better option for a cooking fat? I think it is.

How is “I think it is” a more valuable contribution than what the parent said?

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#103

Post by Noaidi »

getpost wrote: post #30

Brad Marshall[0] makes a case for the benefits of stearic acid (C18:0), which is predominant in beef tallow and cocoa butter. It acts as a beneficial metabolic signal that promotes mitochondrial fat oxidation, higher energy expenditure, and leanness—counteracting the obesogenic effects of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), especially linoleic acid. [0] https://fireinabottle.net/every-fire-in-a-bottle-post-from-t... EDIT:…

Taking one fatty acid out of a complex fat like tallow and therefore extrapolating that "tallow is good for you and everyone" is a huge mistake.

Does Brad Marshall mention that Palmitic acid is the dominant fatty acid in tallow? And since Palmitic acid is the most abundant SFA in the U.S. diet, can we draw a conclusion that it may partially play a role in poor health outcomes?

PUFA suppress lipogenic gene expression so I do not know where anyone is getting that polyunsaturated fats have and obesogenic effect. [1]

[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65613-2

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#104

Post by Geonode »

boringg wrote: post #93

Someone on this thread is able to speak to the argument that has been made about beef being specifically the animal meat to not eat due to its ability to raise inflammation in the system. I had one of the top level specialists say that people with high cholesterol should only eat beef once a year due to its ability to raise inflammation in the circulatory system. Wouldn't beef tallow be along the same line? It's seem…

You're gonna need some sources for those claims.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#105

Post by sjsdaiuasgdia »

fooker wrote: post #76
tombert wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution is to fix the medical establishment, not to appoint a person trained by Facebook moms and and natural food blogs.

Yes, I agree. Now, everyone trying to fix the medical establishment is immediately called an anti vaxxer, science denier, etc. At some point it was inevitable that we get someone who can shrug these labels off because they do not have a scientific reputation that can be killed with these labels. My point is, again, we are in this situation because sane attempts to fix things has not worked. To an extent that people w…

> Now, everyone trying to fix the medical establishment is immediately called an anti vaxxer, science denier, etc.

Well they keep showing up with shitty unverified claims...are we supposed to treat their shitty claims as valid just because they're against the grain?

It's also good to keep an eye on the graft. It's funny how pretty much every big personality in the alt-med space has totally awesome products to sell you that Big Science won't let you know about.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#107

Post by Workaccount2 »

wincy wrote: post #51
paulnpace wrote: post #46

> relatively obscure cooking medium I guess I'm old now, because I remember when it was a big deal that McDonald's switched from using tallow.

I listened to Malcom Gladwell talking about how McDonald’s switched from beef tallow, and decided to try the double fry method using tallow for myself. Deep frying your fries in beef tallow is an absolutely incredible experience, each bite is so rich and satisfying. We definitely lost something in the switch.

Don't worry, they are already salivating at the idea of a tallow renaissance, where they can do a viral marketing blast of "McDonalds Tallow fries"

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#108

Post by dessimus »

geremiiah wrote: post #86
m000 wrote: post #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 90…

Aren't Americans the kind of people who will cut the fat and gristle out of their rib-eye and leave it on the plate? And it was like a thing of pride to not eat the fatty part because look how rich we are ... Now they suddenly all into slurping beef tallow. What?

I think it has more to do with disliking the mouth feel/texture of fat and gristle than because we are so rich. But by all means feel free to gnaw away at that bone in the ribeye for the calcium if you're so worried about getting 100% of the all possible nutrition from a ribeye steak.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#109

Post by jalada »

ninth_ant wrote: post #94
Rendello wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the difference is that tallow is solid at room temperature, so great for preservation. I was planning on making pemmican with it, but slicing, drying, and pulverizing hundreds of tiny strips of meat seemed like a lot of work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemmican

Lard is also solid at room temperature.

Depends on the room.

Re: Is beef tallow making a comeback?

#110

Post by skywhopper »

boringg wrote: post #93

Someone on this thread is able to speak to the argument that has been made about beef being specifically the animal meat to not eat due to its ability to raise inflammation in the system. I had one of the top level specialists say that people with high cholesterol should only eat beef once a year due to its ability to raise inflammation in the circulatory system. Wouldn't beef tallow be along the same line? It's seem…

Food products are so complex that it’s unlikely there’s anything we eat that could be called strictly “good” or “bad”. I would say that fixation on some vague and nonspecific issue like “inflammation” is probably a red flag for the quality of the information at hand. What inflammation exactly? In what people? Under what conditions? It surely varies widely by individual and interacts with other elements of diet, genetics, activity, and environment.
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