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The evidence is pointing very strongly towards saturated fats being bad and towards an imbalance of unsaturated fatty acids towards omega-6 in the common wester

The evidence is pointing very strongly towards saturated fats being bad and towards an imbalance of unsaturated fatty acids towards omega-6 in the common western diet. These are not novel discoveries, this is mountains of research done over the last couple of decades. Cut down on saturated fats and tilt your balance of unsaturated fat more towards omega-3. The reason why fast food is unhealthy is not because of the specific oils used (and all of the ones you mentioned are much better than the trans fat nightmares we used to deep fry in). It's unhealthy because it's super heavy in calories, and because they're almost entirely carbs and fats and low-quality protein, and almost completely bereft of vitamins and minerals and fiber. The fat+salt+carbs combo keeps you from being satiated until you're stuffed full. Focusing solely on the fats used during cooking is myopic. You have to look at the whole picture.

jeffreyrogers 6y ago
I've looked at the evidence and don't think it is as solid as you do. It also is hard to reconcile the recent trend away from saturated fats with diets that we know are healthier than modern diets, e.g. French cooking that uses lots of butter, a saturated fat. Or Mediterranean cooking that uses lots of olive oil, which is one of the more saturated cooking oils (it also is fairly high in unsaturated fat). I think there is more going on here than the nutrition studies indicate. I certainly agree about trans-fats. I would never suggest they're healthy. I don't think satiety is the full story about why fast food is unhealthy, nor just the lack of nutrients. It seems to be actively bad. And I'm obviously not focusing on only the fats used during cooking, but I was responding to a comment about palm oil, not about nutrition in general. Edit: I'm not convinced saturated fats are healthier, either, but I think the science here is very sketchy and generally of low quality.
- KozmoNau7 6y ago
  The diet is only a small part of a given lifestyle, so we can't just boil down the French or mediterranean lifestyles to simply a (stereotypical) diet, rather than looking at all the factors. It matters how much of that stereotypical food you eat, and the totality of the ingredients. Plus how sedentary people are, how many snacks they eat outside of meals, hobbies, work, and a whole host of other factors. The general scientific consensus is pretty clear that saturated fats are unhealthy, trans fats are the worst, and dietary cholesterol seems to not impact serum cholesterol. Science marches on,

jeffreyrogers 6y ago

I've looked at the evidence and don't think it is as solid as you do. It also is hard to reconcile the recent trend away from saturated fats with diets that we know are healthier than modern diets, e.g. French cooking that uses lots of butter, a saturated fat. Or Mediterranean cooking that uses lots of olive oil, which is one of the more saturated cooking oils (it also is fairly high in unsaturated fat). I think there is more going on here than the nutrition studies indicate. I certainly agree about trans-fats. I would never suggest they're healthy. I don't think satiety is the full story about why fast food is unhealthy, nor just the lack of nutrients. It seems to be actively bad. And I'm obviously not focusing on only the fats used during cooking, but I was responding to a comment about palm oil, not about nutrition in general. Edit: I'm not convinced saturated fats are healthier, either, but I think the science here is very sketchy and generally of low quality.

KozmoNau7 6y ago
The diet is only a small part of a given lifestyle, so we can't just boil down the French or mediterranean lifestyles to simply a (stereotypical) diet, rather than looking at all the factors. It matters how much of that stereotypical food you eat, and the totality of the ingredients. Plus how sedentary people are, how many snacks they eat outside of meals, hobbies, work, and a whole host of other factors. The general scientific consensus is pretty clear that saturated fats are unhealthy, trans fats are the worst, and dietary cholesterol seems to not impact serum cholesterol. Science marches on,