Animal fat vs other fat page

[nickh]

G'day folks. Ever since learning about coconut oil, I've been using it liberally in much of my cooking. It provides me with a large portion of my daily saturated fat. In an average day, I cook with 2 to 3 tbsp of coconut oil, and 0.25 to 0.5 of a can of coconut milk.


However, my interpretation of some articles that I've read is that animal fat is the best source of saturated fat.


Should one curb/minimize the amount of saturated fat obtained from coconut, and focus more on saturated fat obtained from animal fat?


Thanks!

Nick

[kuno1chi]

Nick,


I'm not an expert by any means. But I think the general consensus is: if you're eating grass-fed or pastured animals, then their fat is best. If eating CAFO animals---then go for as lean as possible, and supplemnt with good fats like CO.


How'd I do, guys and gals???

[SerialSinner]

I second Kuno.


I personally believe that "not all saturated fats are created equal".


Saturated fats are, by definition, made up of fatty acids with very few or no double bonds (the more multiple bonds in the molecular structure of a fatty acid, the more it can be "saturated with other atoms, hence the more "unsaturated" it becomes).


My point is that the term "saturated fats" refers to a fat which content of fatty acids tends to be saturated. But there are many types of saturated fatty acids.


Lard and Coconut Oil are both saturated fats but are made up of different types of saturated fatty acids.


I believe Grok did not evolve to thrive on coconuts, but to thrive on animal fat.


My personal take is that animal fats are better than saturated vegetable fats. The lack of animal saturated fatty acids or presence of vegetable ones could be linked to unidentified health problems.


Take Butyric acid, for example, an animal saturated fatty acid. Recent research suggests that it prevents gut inflammation, amongst other benefits:

http://tinyurl.com/ykf8apj


Butyric acid is present in butter, and absent in all saturated vegetable fats.

[madMUHHH]

I definitely would NOT limit my intake of coconut fats! Even if it is a "vegetable oil", I think coconut oil plays in its very own league and has some tremendous health benefits (http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/).

Now I wouldn't use coconut oil as your only source of saturated fat, but I really see no reason to limit it in any way, as long as your still are getting a good amount of animal fats into your diet.

[chocolatechip69]

SerialSinner, what about a Grok from the tropics? He didn't get much of animal fat. Instead, he thrived on coconuts, and did so quite successfully.

Coconut oil contains lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes and influenza among many others. While animal fats are also a great option for saturated fats, you will not be getting all the same benefits from animal fats exclusively.

Your best bet would be to use multiple sources of fats in your everyday cooking. For example, I love to use coconut oil in many of the dishes, but there are some that just don't taste as good when they have a hint of coconut in them. During those times I love using lard or butter.

[SerialSinner]

CC maybe a tropical Grok would thrive mainly on coconuts... I do worry about the specific role of the different dietary fatty acids in our physiology though. Maybe a diet high in coconut oil but "supplemented" with some sea food and fish would do it, I don't know.


But like you said, I would also try to always keep some amount of saturated animal fat in my diet just in case.

[Iceskater]

Completely anecdotal, but I've gained most of the benefits of satiety of vlc by eating animal fats (pork belly, lamb cuts). Animal fats seem to be more 'naturally' satisfying than oils. While I add lots of CO and butter to food, the oils can sometimes be nauseating (and other adverse effects other PB'ers have experienced).

[rphlslv]

I'm eating lots of fatty CAFO meats, am I doing a lot of damage?

[rphlslv]

SerialSinner, what about a Grok from the tropics?

Isn't Grok only from Africa? I thought that humans didn't move to other parts of the world only until recent. Even more recent did humans begin to live in tropical islands... I don't know, I might be wrong, can someone correct me?


I'm going to start taking human evolution this semester, I can't wait!

[GotPrimal]

I'm eating lots of fatty CAFO meats, am I doing a lot of damage?

Not 'damage', but you do want to optimize your 3:6 omega ratio. With CAFO, its hard to do that.


So pop 1g-2g of fish oil when you CAFO meat to balance it out.