Comments on: What’s it say?? I can’t read!!

By: Eve

Eve — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:56:36 +0000

Just came across an article in Slate about the resurgence of lard (now there's a good name for a band): Lard: After decades of trying, its moment is finally here.

Now you could even argue that lard is good for you. As Jennifer McLagan points out in her celebrated book Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes, lard's fat is also mostly monounsaturated, which is healthier than saturated fat. And even the saturated fat in lard has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol. Not to mention that lard has a higher smoking point than other fats, allowing foods like chicken to absorb less grease when fried in it. And, of course, fat in general has its upsides. The body converts it to fuel, and it helps absorb nutrients, particularly calcium and vitamins.

By: Jean K

Jean K — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:06:32 +0000

Hah! I’m reading GCBC on my Sony 700. The boys, however, will gladly take a beggin’ strip or a bacon strip, or hey… is that a tennis ball soaked in bacon fat?

(How else was I going to train Woofie to hit the flyball box?)

By: Dave Kearns

Dave Kearns — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:17:02 +0000

Is Scott Kveton underwriting this post?

By: Eve M.

Eve M. — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:45:33 +0000

Hi Rick! Yes, various byproducts get created when you cook anything, and some are no doubt better or worse for you than others. (But you don’t drink olive oil straight either; sometimes you use it for cooking too, so to the extent that we’re talking about the same kind of fatty acid here, it’s apples to apples. Mmm, apples and bacon…)

It sounds like your doctor’s notion is indeed incredibly unscientific. :-) The passage I quoted above was in the context of discussing a scientific study by Scott Grundy in the mid-80′s that actually tried to sort out what parts of the so-called Mediterranean diet actually do increase heart health. I will save this longer Mediterranean discussion for another post, but for now, I’ll just say that Taubes’s conclusion seems fair based on the results of Grundy’s study, which had the now-familiar conclusion that monounsaturated fats avoid the heart-health downsides of saturated fats and of carbs.

As always, if you have an urge to assess the logic and the science of this stuff yourself, I strongly encourage you to read GCBC and even the primary sources he cites.

By: Rick Jelliffe

Rick Jelliffe — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:27:02 +0000

Doesn’t fat change when cooked, and in different ways at different temperatures? I wouldn’t draw the conclusion that lard or ghee are necessarily the same as milk or beef fat.

A doctor told me to approach it like this: if the fat is solid at body temperature outside your body, it will probably be solid at body temperature inside your body.

I am sure it is grotesquely unscientific, but it is an interesting yardstick.