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I think the final paragraph is a great way to frame it:

> Look, I wish strong seed oil theory were true. That would be great. All we’d have to do is reformulate our Cheetos with different oil, and then we could go on merrily eating Cheetos.

The problem with our (Western) diet isn’t that we’re using seed oil. It’s the diet itself.



Fries fried in canola oil is very different than fries fried in tallow.

The author seems to suggest that it’s all the same because “of course fries are junk food” but there is a significant health difference if you recognize that reusing seed oils at high frying temps over and over again degrades the oil in a way that is not the same as with saturated fats.


That's actually indirectly mentioned in the article, where they talk about how the polyunsaturated fats can be turned into transfats at temps over 200C.


Deep fryers are usually 175 to 190C so trans fats shouldn't be much of a concern. I'm more concerned about everything else about deep fried foods -- being high calorie, low nutrient, zero fiber. The choice of oil is irrelevant


Yeah that's absurd. Go to a fast food place and they are reusing the oil over and over again for as long as possible. Believing that the vegetable oil is in a non degraded state by the time they switch it out is naive.

That is going to create a lot of oxidative stress and inflammation.


> That is going to create a lot of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Can you define "a lot" in this context?


Yet the author insists it doesn't matter because "of course Cheetos are junk food", even though it's just a fried corn puff.


Excessive saturated fat consumption is not going to be good for your LDL levels.


The high cholesterol scare is another thing that needs to be explored.

You are operating under the assumption that raising cholesterol levels is somehow a terrible thing.


I am pretty convinced by the scientific consensus that LDL levels (even by themselves) are strongly predictive of Atherogenesis and overall CVD risk.

"An overwhelming body of multiple, converging lines of evidence has established a causal role for LDL in atherosclerosis and CHD/CVD progression as a fact, beyond a hypothesis."

https://sigmanutrition.com/lipids/ has a very good overall survey of the field.


Cholesterol is only a problem when it forms plaques on arterial walls. While reducing blood cholesterol is one way to slow the growth of those plaques, it it better to prevent the damage which causes those plaques to form in the first place.


Seems the number one recommendation is "Eating a diet low in saturated fats and cholesterol, with less sugars and simple carbohydrates", what do you propose and whats the proof?


I don't know where you're getting that recommendation but it's at least partly misinformation.

“Cholesterol is not considered a nutrient of concern for overconsumption.”

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/panel-suggests-stop-warn...


The latest take seems to be related to ApoB numbers (which correlate to LDL numbers).

I resisted for a long time but I'm finally swayed and am medicating to take the ApoB levels down (diet and exercise can help but medication seems to be the strongest factor).


Aren't cholesterol meds good and cheap enough now that you basically never even have to worry about your cholesterol?

On top of that, it's all genetics and pointless to worry about. Just enjoy the ride. BD


Did a Pharma exec write this message?


That’s been debunked


It absolutely hasn't.

"An overwhelming body of multiple, converging lines of evidence has established a causal role for LDL in atherosclerosis and CHD/CVD progression as a fact, beyond a hypothesis."

https://sigmanutrition.com/lipids/ has a very good overall survey of the field.


Tallow is more expensive, so if it were the only option, fried food would be less profitable. And that would mean there would be less fried food in our diets.


Burger joints essentially get tallow for free.

There are some recyclers now that will pay you a bit for used oil, but I doubt it's enough to make it cheaper to buy fresh vegetable oil rather than cooking the fries in the beef fat you already have.


so a good thing? i think the big probably with all these substitutions is they are to make us eat more of the bad thing. if you could only eat fried food or sweets on an occasion then no issue. however, those are the things that are made cheap.

then again maybe its cause those taste the best due to being evolutationary selected and companies arent trying to kill us but get us to buy whatever our bodies easily go for.


Ah, but does the diet cause the seed oil, or does the seed oil cause the diet? I suspect our diets would be better if addictive unhealthy food was less profitable.


if the seed oils in Cheetos are not the problem, what is it? the flour?


The amount. The western diet includes tons of snacks and additional sources of calories like soda.


Could be ingredients that are complete non-foods, such as artificial colorings.




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