Why it's healthier to cook with LARD than sunflower oil: Extraordinary experiment shows everything we've been told about cooking oils is wrong

[liturgyluver]

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Is the Med diet the right one for an Irishman? For an Englishman? Would an English diet be the worst imaginable thing for a Sicilian, but ok for most Brits?

As someone born in Italy, I think the worst thing for a Sicilian (or any other Italian) would be a Scottish diet closely followed by an American one. After all US food contains the greatest proportion of additives than any other country - something that Italians detest - , and of fat which might explain why the US has the highest percentage of obese people in the western world.

I would suggest that what you consider an English diet no longer reflects the reality of what most people eat here now. When I first came to the UK from Italy, there were lots of cafes serving good wholesome dishes, but in many urban areas you now see people eating ghastly burger buns or chicken. Yuk.

You may be surprised to know that 14 British restaurants are among the 50 best restaurants in the world, and that the global reach of London has elevated it to the status of a leading centre of international cuisine.

 

[Roselle]

That’s nice to see, that there was a show on that. It looks like change is on the way with our dietary guidelines in America. Much of what I grew up learning concerning diet - avoid fat, avoid salt, avoid cholesterol, eat carbohydrates, is going to be updated and in some measure reversed. Dr. Kendrick recently wrote about the updates to expect:

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/05/20/sorry-seems-to-be-the-hardest-word/

excerpt:

…Some of you may be aware that the US dietary guidelines are going to be changed. For some reason it is required that the full report is suppressed for about a year. Presumably so that everyone can pile high their defences when the attacks begin. ‘I think you will find that I have always, ahem, supported these ideas.’ Cough, shuffle of papers….cough. ‘Sorry, no time to take questions.’ Exit left.

The entire report, I believe, stretches to about a bazillion pages. However, here are four of the highlights.

Cholesterol is to be dropped from the ‘nutrients of concern’ list. *.
Saturated fat will be… ‘de-emphasized’ from nutrients of concern, given the lack of evidence connecting it with cardiovascular disease.’ [Whatever de-emphasizing may be. Pretending you never said it in the first place, I suppose].
There is concern over blanket sodium restriction given the… ‘growing body of research suggesting that the low sodium intake levels recommended by the DGAC (Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee) are actually associated with increased mortality for healthy individuals.’
And…’ The identification and recognition of the specific health risks posed by added sugars represents an important step forward for public health.’
In short. Cholesterol is healthy, saturated fat is healthy, salt is healthy and sugar is unhealthy. I have pulled those four points out of a press release by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which I reproduce in full, below…

 

[Ridgerunner]

As someone born in Italy, I think the worst thing for a Sicilian (or any other Italian) would be a Scottish diet closely followed by an American one. After all US food contains the greatest proportion of additives than any other country - something that Italians detest - , and of fat which might explain why the US has the highest percentage of obese people in the western world.

I would suggest that what you consider an English diet no longer reflects the reality of what most people eat here now. When I first came to the UK from Italy, there were lots of cafes serving good wholesome dishes, but in many urban areas you now see people eating ghastly burger buns or chicken. Yuk.

You may be surprised to know that 14 British restaurants are among the 50 best restaurants in the world, and that the global reach of London has elevated it to the status of a leading centre of international cuisine.

I’m no supporter of additives, junk food or even “fast food”.
By “English diet” I am assuming a diet relatively high in protein and fats compared to, say, the diet of a Sicilian in Sicily. Of course, there is a world of difference in Italian diets. I have some Italian ancestors, but they were all from the Alps, and I can safely say their diets bore no resemblance whatever to what we think of as a “Mediterranean” diet today. It was perhaps closer to what we think of as “German” cooking. They didn’t know olive oil except as an oddity that they wouldn’t eat.

My Irish ancestors came here as serious meat-eaters and remained so. Also, of course, eaters of potatoes and other root vegetables. Very fond of butter. Major milk drinkers and cookers of things with milk. Also fish. The fish and scallop chowders were beyond delicious. Scallops cooked in butter. Ummmmm.

My wife and I avoid “processing” as much as possible. Also, we are very serious about eating only grass-fed beef. We’re fortunate in that I raise my own, so it’s cheaper for us as well.

When one talks about “primordial” diets of various peoples, one needs to recognize that they were not the same everywhere. Celts and Teutons, for example, didn’t consume wheat or barley at all until the early Middle Ages. Julius Caesar speculated that the robustness of the Teutons was due to the fact that they almost never ate anything but meat. One needs also to realize that there are probably systemic adaptations of kinds other than lactose tolerance.

But it’s true, too, that “primordial” diets were pretty “natural” and pretty fresh.

 

[liturgyluver]

I’m no supporter of additives, junk food or even “fast food”.
By “English diet” I am assuming a diet relatively high in protein and fats compared to, say, the diet of a Sicilian in Sicily. Of course, there is a world of difference in Italian diets. I have some Italian ancestors, but they were all from the Alps, and I can safely say their diets bore no resemblance whatever to what we think of as a “Mediterranean” diet today. It was perhaps closer to what we think of as “German” cooking. They didn’t know olive oil except as an oddity that they wouldn’t eat.

My Irish ancestors came here as serious meat-eaters and remained so. Also, of course, eaters of potatoes and other root vegetables. Very fond of butter. Major milk drinkers and cookers of things with milk. Also fish. The fish and scallop chowders were beyond delicious. Scallops cooked in butter. Ummmmm.

My wife and I avoid “processing” as much as possible. Also, we are very serious about eating only grass-fed beef. We’re fortunate in that I raise my own, so it’s cheaper for us as well.

When one talks about “primordial” diets of various peoples, one needs to recognize that they were not the same everywhere. Celts and Teutons, for example, didn’t consume wheat or barley at all until the early Middle Ages. Julius Caesar speculated that the robustness of the Teutons was due to the fact that they almost never ate anything but meat. One needs also to realize that there are probably systemic adaptations of kinds other than lactose tolerance.

But it’s true, too, that “primordial” diets were pretty “natural” and pretty fresh.

Nice - As you say Italy is still very regional - and territorial about their food, and naturally every region thinks its food is the best! Taken as a whole, I’d say there is nothing to beat Italian food -and my own bias favours the Neapolitan region. Wonderfully simple and delicious with such imaginative use of vegetables, and simple pasta sauces.

 

[Exiled_Child]

I have wondered about this for a long time. Non-Jewish western Europeans are the descendants of tribes that lived for perhaps 10,000 years on the Eurasian steppes, and were herders. One of the fascinating stories from history is the Persian king who wanted to stop raids by the steppe tribes. He brought his huge army deeper and deeper into the trackless grasslands but could never engage them because they kept withdrawing into the steppelands. Finally, he sent an emissary challenging the king of the steppe people to battle.

The reply he received was something like this: We have no cities for you to sack. We have no crops for you to burn. We have only our herds and the graves of our ancestors. But if you destroy any of the latter, then you will know whether we will fight."

The Persian king gave it up and returned to Persia.

It’s interesting to me that, of all the world’s people, Indo-Europeans are the only people, the majority of whom (about 80%) retain lactose tolerance into adulthood. Why? Is it because ten thousand years of living off herd animals induced a genetic change? Hard to think otherwise. Then, one may ask (and perhaps should ask) whether the “Mediterranean diet”, for example, is the best for an Irishman. One recalls that the very earliest Irish poem is about a cattle raid, and there are presently more cattle than people in Ireland. So there is a continuity of diet from 10,000 years ago to the present day.

Is the Med diet the right one for an Irishman? For an Englishman? Would an English diet be the worst imaginable thing for a Sicilian, but ok for most Brits?

I strongly suspect that olive oil and the Mediterranean diet work best when you’re also getting lot’s of sunlight, as they do in that part of the world. So that alone might be a factor in Irish people adopting those foods. But what you say is interesting… Who knows what we ate in pre-history, but that theory would seem to make sense. I know that Japanese people are virtually all lactose intolerant, and I’ve heard that’s the case in other parts of Asia, too, so I’m not sure what that might mean. Dairy products are big in India and Native Americans don’t seem to have any problem with it, and they’re supposed to be genetically Asian. I don’t know, I just had coconut oil in oatmeal a few minutes ago, and I am most certainly not Samoan… I suppose the oats are probably what my British ancestors all ate, though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I strongly suspect that olive oil and the Mediterranean diet work best when you’re also getting lot’s of sunlight, as they do in that part of the world. So that alone might be a factor in Irish people adopting those foods. But what you say is interesting… Who knows what we ate in pre-history, but that theory would seem to make sense. I know that Japanese people are virtually all lactose intolerant, and I’ve heard that’s the case in other parts of Asia, too, so I’m not sure what that might mean. Dairy products are big in India and Native Americans don’t seem to have any problem with it, and they’re supposed to be genetically Asian. I don’t know, I just had coconut oil in oatmeal a few minutes ago, and I am most certainly not Samoan… I suppose the oats are probably what my British ancestors all ate, though.

I don’t know about American Indians and their lactose tolerance. Nor do I know what their ancestral admixture might be. I have read that, for instance, most black Americans are more “white” by ancestry than they are “black”. But when it comes to Indians, I just don’t know. I do know there are a tremendous number of people with partial Indian ancestry that you can’t visually discern in any way.

 

[Megan7]

dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3176558/It-s-healthier-cook-LARD-sunflower-oil-Extraordinary-experiment-shows-ve-told-cooking-oils-wrong.html#reader-comments

• Team from BBC’s Trust Me, I’m A Doctor conducted new research
• Revealed that what we thought we knew about cooking oils is plain wrong
• Most people thought frying with vegetable oils is healthier. But is it?

I use lard all the time for frying and sometimes pastries.

Thanks for the link:thumbsup: I think we have known this for some time, it is nice to see it in a news article. I prefer coconut oil & olive oil on salads Pies made with lard are really tasty.

And I cannot stand margarine, it is disgusting!

 

[baliano]

I thought the science was settled.

Science is never settled, it’s why there are scientists!

 

[Michael_Mayo]

Bacon grease is a staple in our home. The saturated fat crusade has been shown to be bunk.

Atkins was right, the State appointed experts were wrong.

Since this is the contrarian view, care to share your evidence?

 

[Michael_Mayo]

After finding out I have coronary blockage this is nor longer an academic issue for me so I am doing research. This article seemed to provide a good summary.

theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/science-compared-every-diet-and-the-winner-is-real-food/284595/

 

[Sarcelle]

dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3176558/It-s-healthier-cook-LARD-sunflower-oil-Extraordinary-experiment-shows-ve-told-cooking-oils-wrong.html#reader-comments

• Team from BBC’s Trust Me, I’m A Doctor conducted new research
• Revealed that what we thought we knew about cooking oils is plain wrong
• Most people thought frying with vegetable oils is healthier. But is it?

I use lard all the time for frying and sometimes pastries.

Try frying potatoes in duck fat.

Deeeeelicious

 

[Sarcelle]

Coconut oil for the win!!

I use coconut oil or olive oil.

 

[Sarcelle]

There are certain nutritionists who are opposed to ALL oils, including extra virgin olive oil even for cooking, and especially for frying. Other nutritionists praise grapeseed oil in place of olive oil. In the 1970’s, polyunsaturated oils such as sunflower oil and safflower oil were thought to be healthy. Later, they were labeled unhealthy, whereas monounsaturated oils such as canola oil and olive oil were regarded as the healthier ones. Soybean oil has gotten mixed reviews during the last few decades. Today some health experts are reconsidering saturated oils and fats. In sum, we still know virtually NOTHING about nutrition. One thing I’ve noticed, however, is that well-known nutritionists in general don’t live very long.

 

[CaptFun]

I just had a '70s flashback!

From the movie “Sleeper”. Miles Monroe a health food expert from the 1970s is cryogenically UNfrozen and is being examined by doctors 200 years later … as these doctors speak in the foreground, Miles, thawing out slowly meanders aimlessly about behind them in an electric wheelchair, “coming to” slowly:

Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.”

Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.

Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?

Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy…*** precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.***

Dr. Melik: Incredible.

Later the doctors inform the health food “expert” of his new situation:

Miles Monroe: Where am I anyhow, I mean, what happened to everybody, where are all my friends?

Dr. Aragon: You must understand that everyone you knew in the past has been dead nearly two hundred years.

Miles Monroe: But they all ate organic rice!

This “cooking oils” controversy made be the “global warming” of the culinary arts!

 

[DaveBj]

This has been a very entertaining thread.

I’m playing with writing a novel about a baby boomer who is zapped back to his own home town in 1938. He is surprised to find that his French fries were deep-fried in lard. I think I’ll have him comment about how tasty they are

 

[ProVobis]

Olive oil can be used for cooking but not for frying, do not use extra virgin for this, also do try to consume some raw extra virgin olive oil of good quality, it helps lower the bad cholesterol and increase the good one.

…

As does canola oil, another monosaturated fat. But just don’t boil or fry with it above 400 or so. In that case, you’re better off using a saturated fat.

In the case of margarine, it’s mostly a trans fat.