To be honest I'm not concerned with elevated LDL if it's against the backdrop of good metabolic health (eg, solid raised HDL, reduced triglycerides, insulin sensitivity, etc.). For the last few decades the most prescribed drug is statins which reduce LDL and overall cholesterol and yet heart disease continues to be on the rise. But, yes, for those in poor metabolic health an elevated LDL can definitely be a red flag. In my ketovore/carnivore diet I concentrate on animal fat (ie, saturated) as a key component ─ bacon, fatty red meat, eggs, butter, etc. That is coupled with strong emphasis on protein and greatly reduced carbohydrate intake. My blood labs are the best numbers they have ever been, same with my weight (which is once again at high-school level). Just because "fat" on your body is the same word as "fat" in your diet doesn't mean the former is derived from the latter. I would suggest instead that it's carbs in the diet that cause people to gain their excess fat (ie, adipose tissue). Which is unfortunate as the major food processors are expert at making their carbs taste great and be addictive. If anyone is further interested I recommend you listen to this interview with Dr. Philip Ovadia who is a heart surgeon of two decades along with being a metabolic health expert who wrote this book. Although the entire interview is worthwhile the portion of the video where he discusses saturated fat starts at 14:27 and runs to 19:00. "Most physicians don't connect this: heart disease, diabetes, strokes and cancer all have their roots in poor metabolic health." --Dr. Ovadia
There are tons of confusing/useless/biased articles about food on the internet. I used to avoid or even throw away saturated fat (eg the fat from the pork belly). I consider these foods as natural food and hence good for humans. Nowadays, I'd avoid these man-made / Frankenstein / unnatural foods - ultra process food - sugary food/drink - plastic/fake meat These food factories employ millions of workers worldwide. Fortunately/unfortunately, billions of people enjoy eating such foods. Always compare food, and see which is healthier/more toxic. So which oil is healthier/more toxic? - coconut oil (natural but high in saturated fat) - soya/canola ... vegetable oil (unnatural food, UPF but vegetable sounds extremely HEALTHY) You can try squeezing soya beans at home with all your might. You wouldn't get a drop of vegetable oil.
We've got a serious problem in this country... So maybe the information we're being given about diet and health has some glitches.
When you consider some of the most popular oils ─ sunflower, cottonseed, safflower, sesame seed, canola... you have to admire the brilliant marketing that allows them to be called the very friendly name "vegetable oil" when they are not made from vegetables at all. Instead they are made from seeds through an extremely complex industrial process of cleaning, grinding, pressing, and heating the plant seeds to high temperatures. For instance, the immensely popular Crisco found in many households consists of soybean oil, palm oil, and other ingredients. As Wikipedia says, "It was the first shortening to be made entirely of vegetable oil, originally cottonseed oil". Another item made from so-called vegetable oil is margarine and I avoid it along with all seed oils. Some examples of more healthy vegetable oils include avocado, coconut, and olive oil. Truth is all three are technically fruits, but I won't nitpick as they are far superior to the seed oils. Anyway, my cooking oil preferences are butter, tallow (beef fat), and lard (pig fat) which is most of what was used for cooking prior to about 100 years ago. Another fine product is ghee which is a type of clarified butter, and many prefer it for its higher smoke point when frying. These latter items are all animal products and they fit better in a ketovore/carnivore diet.
Posted a few hours ago on X: "Granted there are a lot more people doing the low fat diet and taking their statins than there are carnivores in the world, but I have seen a lot more patients on low fat diets taking their statins with cholesterol under 100 that roll in with heart attacks than I've seen carnivores that have shown up with heart attacks." -- Heart Surgeon Dr. Philip Ovadia
With Trump serving fries at McDonalds it got me thinking about how great the fries used to be there (until 1990), and how they're mediocre at best now. After all, fries are the single most popular item on the McDonalds menu. Turns out the originals were cooked in tallow, aka beef fat. In the 80's there was a misguided push against saturated fats and McDonalds relented, dropped the tallow and switched to many "unsaturated" seed oils ─ canola, soybean, corn oil, hydrogenated soybean, along with supplementary items such as dextrose (sugar), dimethylpolysiloxane, sodium acid pyrophosphate, etc. for a total of 19 ingredients! Anyone who was around back then remembers how great the fries used to be, and laments the current chemical blend. As many doctors point out, it's just another slow poison in the American diet.
I pride myself on being well-educated in nutritional health plus two years of biochemistry and organic chemistry in college. I credit it with my accomplishments in sports, the military, and survival of a deadly infection in 2016 that doctors stated I should not have survived. I was never aware of converting seeds to vegetable oils as shown in your chart. Thank you for the chart. Now I regret not taking that 400-level class to learn more about triglycerides (organic chemistry). Seriously, the name vegetable oil (with vegetable as part of the marketing title) is clever but misleading to America's health. I remember in college, our team had a sports nutritionist who educated us to switch from eating foods cooked in vegetable oils to foods cooked in olive oil. Simply, it was all about heart health. I liked olive oil so much, I would have a tablespoon of it (organic extra virgin) before going to bed. Strengthening the heart and our nutrition was the foundation for improving athletic performance. Today, I still drink a spoonful of olive oil (4 days per week) after a hard workout or a muscle injury. Further, I apply olive oil as a topical rub to burns, wounds, and massage rub into sore muscles. My teenagers would ask if I learned that from my native grandmother (their great-grandmother). I would say no. I learned it from a hot-looking sports nutritionist in college. wrbtrader