PUFA advise please

[rachelleigh73]

Hi - I'm wondering about what fats are considered 'good' fats? I've become aware of the recent debate about PUFA's and am a bit confused about what fats are the ones I should be eating for good health. With thanks!

[MikePollard]

Forget about any oil that comes in a bottle other than olive oil. PUFAs (mainly man-made fats) such as corn oil contain mostly omega 6 fatty acids which are easily oxidised to the detriment of health.

You need to get your head around the fact that saturated fat is nothing to be feard. Butter, coconut oil, dripping, lard, cheese and heavy cream taste wonderful for a very good reason - nature wants us to eat them! Factor in nuts and fatty fish and you won't be going far wrong.

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

Also worth mentioning that many so-called "healthy" oils meet the commonsense definition of processed foods: there was no technological means of extracting them prior to about 1920, and no economically-viable process until about 1950. In other words, they have NEVER been part of the human diet (at least not in the quantities advised by the authorities). It seems pretty unlikely that a product only accessible via complicated mechanical and chemical processes should turn out to be more healthy than fats that we've eaten for millennia: fish oils, olive oil, coconut oil, lard.

[Hidden]

To add my 2 cents- those processed oils have been referred to as "vegetable" oils when in fact they are all processed from grains, not vegetables- soybeans, corn, etc. And it's grains that are problematic to start with. The vegetable label makes them appear healthy, when they actually cause inflammation. We've been so very misled for so very many years.

[rachelleigh]

Thanks for the replies. My take from this is that animal derived fats, olive oil, coconut oil are it. Everything else is out. Am I right in thinking that nut oils are no better than grain-based oils (not that I've ever used these)? Ditto avocado oil and palm oil?