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40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

washingtonpost.com

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Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#51
post #17

The subject of the article says as much about the politics of science as it is a comment on the science itself. To the extent the findings have been ignored, or perhaps even shunned, is not at all unique. Many important advances in medicine had a notoriously difficult time being accepted, as an example, the idea that bacterial infection was the cause of stomach ulcers had been around for decades before gaining tracti…

Thanks for the insightful comment. What would be a good substitute oil for cooking?

Avocado oil, butter, ghee, lard, beef tallow

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#52
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Olive oil for the pan. Don't know about baking. Apple sauce?

Olive oil burns too easily. I usually use peanut or safflower oil. Where do they fit in on this radar?

Why not refined olive oil? As I understand it olive oil is almost entirely monounsaturated which is supposed to be the "good" fat, and when refined it has minimal flavor and a higher smoke point.

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the insightful comment. What would be a good substitute oil for cooking?

I am not a dietary scientist, but we are using either coconut fat or grape see oil for cooking. The main reason is that these are supposed to produce less cancerogenic compounds after high temperature treatment* and they also do not leave any strong specific taste. Both do not contain significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids, but the cooking oil probably also should not be your main source of fatty acids anyway (usu…

Iirc, grape seed oil actually is pretty bad for omega 6.

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#55

The context of the early 70s was that "The Limits To Growth" and "The Population Bomb" had just been published and there was a real concern in the air that the world was going to run out of food quickly unless something drastic was done. I think this created a strong confirmation bias that favored any scientific validation of vegetarianism as good news. Saturated fat being the main component of meats that is not in v…

Of course on the other hand: wouldn't it be amazingly convenient for the meat industry if just as a massive drought was bringing forth a renewed wave of criticism against the wastefulness of alfalfa for feed; with factory farms being heavily criticized as horrifying cruel; antibiotics in animal feed being blamed for bringing about the MRSApocalypse; hormones being blamed for... well just about anything; along with shit lagoons destroying the environment and cowfarts destroying the ozone layer there was a sudden rush of studies showing that you should be eating more meat.

I mean. You know. It plays both ways.

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the insightful comment. What would be a good substitute oil for cooking?

I am not a dietary scientist, but we are using either coconut fat or grape see oil for cooking. The main reason is that these are supposed to produce less cancerogenic compounds after high temperature treatment* and they also do not leave any strong specific taste. Both do not contain significant amount of omega-3 fatty acids, but the cooking oil probably also should not be your main source of fatty acids anyway (usu…

Avocado Oil is the de-facto high heat cooking oil with a good fat profile (mostly monounsaturated fats).

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#57
post #17

The subject of the article says as much about the politics of science as it is a comment on the science itself. To the extent the findings have been ignored, or perhaps even shunned, is not at all unique. Many important advances in medicine had a notoriously difficult time being accepted, as an example, the idea that bacterial infection was the cause of stomach ulcers had been around for decades before gaining tracti…

Thanks for the insightful comment. What would be a good substitute oil for cooking?

Lard?

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#58
post #28
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Olive oil burns too easily. I usually use peanut or safflower oil. Where do they fit in on this radar?

Coconut Oil is good and has a high flashpoint. Edit: Lard and Butter also work quite well.

Butter is tasty, but can only stand low temperatures.

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#59
post #20

Similar political dynamics are playing themselves out today with respect to Ebola and septic shock: http://blog.rongarret.info/2014/12/the-cure-for-ebola.html

See also:

Salicylates and Pandemic Influenza Mortality, 1918–1919 Pharmacology, Pathology, and Historic Evidence:

http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/49/9/1405.full

Re: 40 year old study could have reshaped American diet, was never fully published

#60
post #44

The context of the early 70s was that "The Limits To Growth" and "The Population Bomb" had just been published and there was a real concern in the air that the world was going to run out of food quickly unless something drastic was done. I think this created a strong confirmation bias that favored any scientific validation of vegetarianism as good news. Saturated fat being the main component of meats that is not in v…

That being said, I wonder if a worthwhile goal is to breed plants, especially grains, to have higher fat (and specifically higher omega-3 fat) and lower carbohydrate contents. Long term storage might be an issue since unsaturated fats tend to oxidize while carbohydrates are stable, but if it's possible for the fat to be mostly saturated that wouldn't be an issue.

Walnuts.
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