Another reversal? Which oil is better, lard or vegetable oil?

The older generation, and even some people born in the 1980s, are familiar with lard. When conditions were difficult in the past, many people ate lard at home. Some Cantonese dishes and some fillings still maintain tradition and continue to use lard.

I don’t know when it started, but many people stopped eating lard and started eating vegetable oil for the sake of health.

A recent study found that feeding mice a diet containing 20% ​​soybean oil for 8 weeks was worse than feeding them a diet containing 20% ​​lard for the same period of time, significantly promoting inflammation and possibly increasing the risk of cardiovascular and liver damage.

They fed three groups of rats a high-fat diet containing either lard or soybean oil, or a normal control diet.

After 8 weeks, it was found that there was no significant difference in body weight among the three groups. However, compared with the control group, the lard and soybean oil groups consumed less food, but their blood lipids increased significantly.

Surprisingly, only the soybean oil group showed increased systolic blood pressure, increased oxidative stress index, increased myeloperoxidase activity, liver steatosis, and increased inflammatory markers IL-6 and pentraxin 3 (PTX3).

This suggests that long-term excessive consumption of soybean oil is more likely to cause inflammation and potential cardiovascular and liver damage than lard.

This study suggests that even soybean oil, which is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, poses health risks if consumed in excess over a long period of time.

I need to remind you that the dosage used in this study was too high, and it is a high-fat diet, which is unhealthy in itself. Moreover, it is an animal experiment and cannot be directly extrapolated to humans. More research is needed in the future.

Friendly reminder, according to the recommendations of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines, the daily amount of edible oil per person is 25-30 grams.

It is recommended to consume vegetable oil as the main edible oil, supplemented by animal oil, and to consume different vegetable oils and animal oils alternately and use diversified oils.

Excess of anything is not good, even lard 🐷, you can have it in moderation.

Excesive consumption of unsaturated fatty acids leads to oxidative and inflammatory instability in Wistar rats

10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111691