6 ms·
It's not that complex, actually. The vast majority of fats, all the natural ones, basically, are fine. Healthy, even. The weirdass plastic fats created by injec
by Bud 4y ago
It's not that complex, actually. The vast majority of fats, all the natural ones, basically, are fine. Healthy, even. The weirdass plastic fats created by injecting hydrogen into vegetable oil are not fine.
Done! Was that really so nuanced? No. It was not.
- DaiPlusPlus 4y agoTry explaining to an average person how they can identify which food products at the supermarket have noble-gas-fat-products in them and which don't.
- lolinder 4y ago"Check the nutrition facts label. If it has any trans fat, put it back."
- kube-system 4y agoTrans fats are now banned in the US so there's not much of a need to look.
- rootw0rm 4y agojust went shopping yesterday (Southern California) and much of the peanut butter still has trans fats.
- zerocrates 4y agoThere's many brands which have fully-hydrogenated oil, but I'm not aware of any still using partially-hydrogenated (what people typically mean when they're talking about trans fats), and I don't believe they're allowed to now.
- feet 4y agoThat's easy. The packages are labeled with nutrient information, don't eat any that contain any amount of trans fats. Also as a side note, hydrogen isn't a noble gas
- Bud 4y agoI know. I edited my comment to correct that. Apologies for the error, hydrogen fans!
- Smoosh 4y agoI'm a big fan of hydrogen, particularly the collaborative work with oxygen. You could say that it's central to my life.
- newswasboring 4y agoI think this would mean eating nothing but home cooked meals or a 3x in grocery bill. I'm not even sure of the latter strategy
- feet 4y agoReally? Most food products I see, even processed ones, don't have trans fats. What foods do you buy that do?
- kortilla 4y agoTrans fats are banned in the US: https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/trans-fat https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/trans-fat
- newswasboring 4y agoI don't live in US. HN is a international community, please be mindful of that.
- Godel_unicode 4y ago
- andsoitis 4y ago> which food products If it comes in a tin or a box, it is probably not good for you. Not all cases, but it is a good rule of thumb.
- SamPatt 4y agoSardines are a tasty exception
- heavyset_go 4y agoPalm oils in particular are not very healthy and are suspected to be a leading cause of diet-induced heart disease. Not all fats are created equally, or in equal proportions. Palm oils are high in specific saturated fats that are linked to cardiovascular disease. Palm oils are some of the most common fats found in prepared foods, especially foods that need solid fats at room temperatures. The majority of peanut butter preparations on shelves in the US have had all of their peanut oils removed and then replaced with palm oil for "better" texture and to prevent separation. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oil#Nutrition_and_health https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oil#Nutrition_and_health
- Godel_unicode 4y agoWhat an interesting, and dare I say nuanced, point. Let’s add to it how good fats can become bad through releasing free radicals, which happens at approximately the same temperature that a lot of animal fats are cooked at.
- heavyset_go 4y agoA few years ago, I did some reading on PubMed to figure out what fats are best to cook with. Came to the conclusion that extra virgin olive oil, which papers use the acronym "EVOO" for, is best for frying, whether that's pan or deep frying, and cooking in general. It's high in monounsaturated fats and studies found that various compounds in EVOO prevent the formation of free radicals, volatile organic compounds, aldehydes like formaldehyde, etc compared to other cooking oils. One study looked at the use of frying oils over time, since the longer the oils are heated, the more they decompose into harmful compounds. EVOO won out on that, too, and significantly inhibited the creation of harmful products. This would be relevant for restaurants, which tend to reuse oils over long periods of time, or anyone that cooks big meals for themselves or others. If you're going to be standing over a pan cooking for hours at a time, it's worth reducing the amount of harmful compounds you'll inevitably breathe in. Typically refined oils are preferred for frying because they can be used at higher temperatures, but I've found cooking with EVOO to be just fine, just don't cook things at temperatures where it might start smoking.
- Godel_unicode 4y agoIt never fails to amaze me how the benefits of hindsight can cause us to forget how little we used to know or how long it took us to learn. This is the exact type of science that we’re arguing needs to be extended to cannabis.
- avgcorrection 4y agoGo feign surprise somewhere else, mate. Fat was the dietary scapegoat for decades because the powers that be wanted to sell us cereal-dominated diets, not because there was some amazing science that proved (at the time) that fat was bad and carbs were good.
- sersnth 4y agoThat describes both partially and fully hydrogenated fats, but only the partially hydrogenated fats contain trans fat. As far as I know fully hydrogenated fats are not any more unhealthy than other saturated fats.
- drtz 4y agoThere's plenty of nuance you're missing still: - Baseline cholesterol levels - Inflammation - Genetic predisposition to heart disease / diabetes - Types of fat and quantities consumed - What else does your diet consist of Edit: and these are just some risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. There's plenty more nuance still if we want to talk about quality of life, energy levels, digestive function etc...