Here is an article from second-opinions.co.uk by Barry Groves. What interested me about this article was the chart that lists that our stored human fat as a mixture of 40% saturated, 57% monounsaturated and a mere 3% polyunsaturated fat. "Heart healthy" oils like canola, safflower, and margarine have an abundance of polyunsaturated and low amounts of saturated fat, the exact opposite of what is stored in your body.

"Have you ever wondered why polyunsaturated margarine has to be kept in a fridge, yet coconut oil can be kept out at room temperature for a year or more without any untoward effects? All fats and oils in Nature are a mixture of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The only difference between them is the proportions of each. Whether they are in plant or animal tissues, this is governed by the temperature at which the different fats and oils are designed to operate. This point, which is often neglected when discussing the healthiness or otherwise of fats and oils, is actually the most important consideration. The degree of saturation or unsaturation determines not only a fat's melting point, but also its chemical stability and its likelihood of auto-oxidising and creating harmful free radicals. The higher the proportion of saturated fatty acids a fat is, the less likely it is to go rancid; the more polyunsaturated fatty acids it contains, the more difficult it is to stop it going bad."

 

Table I: Fatty Acid Composition of Selected Fats

Fat or oil	Saturated (%)	Monounsat (%)	Polyunsat (%)
Coconut	91	6	3
Palm kernel	83	16	1
Butter	60	34	6
Human milk	54	39	8
Lamb	53	41	5
Beef	45	51	5
Pork	43	48	8
Human (body fat)	40	57	3
Hen's Egg	39	47	14
Chicken	35	48	16
Cod	26	16	59
Margarine (polyunsat)	24	21	55
Soya oil	18	24	58
Olive oil	17	74	9
Corn oil	13	24	59
Sunflower oil	10	20	66
Safflower oil	9	12	75
Canola oil	6	67	27

Here is more about the fat debate with excellent insight from Charles Washington.

"If we consider a porterhouse steak with a quarter-inch layer of fat, broiling it will reduce to almost equal parts fat and protein. Fifty-one percent of the fat is monounsaturated and ninety percent of that is oleic acid. Saturated fat constitutes forty-five percent of the total but a third of that is stearic acid (metabolized as oleic acid in the body), which will increase HDL while having no effect on LDL. The remaining four percent is polyunsaturated which lowers LDL but has no meaningful effect on HDL. Perhaps as much as seventy percent of the fat in a porterhouse will improve the relative levels of LDL and HDL cholesterol compared to the effect that bread, potatoes and pasta would produce. The remaining 30 percent will raise LDL cholesterol but will also raise HDL and have virtually no effect on the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL. This all suggests that eating a porterhouse in lieu of bread or potatoes would actually reduce heart-disease risk."

 

Good luck finding a nutritional authority that will say this publically. And guess what? The same is true for lard and bacon!

Here is a thread on the issue over at Zeroing In On Health Forum