Do I need to supplement saturated fat?

[Cellar Yeti]

I have read Vegan diets are most often deficient of saturated fats and supplementing coconut milk is necessary (They always mention coconut milk). But things like my almonds, tahini, and other fat sources contain some saturated fat. So do I need coconut milk specifically? What's the deal?

[vegimator]

Vegan diets are low in saturated fat but it's hard to be deficient in something that's not biologically necessary. As far as I can tell, you don't need it. In my experience, these people say you need saturated fat for fat soluble vitamins... which are just as well absorbed in unsaturated fat... or simply because we've eaten a lot of saturated fats in our evolutionary past or what have you. What are the reasons you've seen people saying vegans need it?

 

Even though I don't think we need it, because i have great cholesterol levels and very low risk for heart problems, I do eat a pretty good amount of saturated fat because it boosts testosterone levels and I feel that it's better to cook with ethically sourced virgin palm oil (which is about 1/2 saturated fat, 1/2 monunsaturated) than most other oils due to the nutritional stability at high temperatures and large amounts of antioxidants (compared to say, canola oil). And I am a big fan of coconut. Dark chocolate and brazil nuts are also very high in saturated fat if you decide you want to eat more of it.

[vege]

Coconut milk and oil supposedly are good because they contain "healthy" saturated fat - lauric acid - that has antimicrobial properties.

And, as Vegimator said, some saturated fats in general is good for testosterone and is also essential in forming of lots of other hormones, etc, etc... Cholesterol and triglycerides levels on my last blood test were practically ZERO after many years of macrobiotic (and vegan diet lately). Doctor said it is no problem, but she said also that she has never seen such low levels of fat in somebody's blood:)) I started thinking, maybe it is not OK not to have any fats in your body, so I started using organic coconut oil. I don't know... after two months of using it, only difference I notice is that now I have some acne (nothing serious) showing all over my body, which never happened before. BUT, coconut oil is VERY tasty in vegetable curries, baked potatoes, etc. It actually looses "coconuty" flavor in the process of cooking and gives "lardy" taste to dishes.

But you are right - there is also saturated fat in almonds, walnuts, tahini, etc. I would check fat levels in blood, and if they are OK, I see no reason (except culinary) for you to use coconut oil or milk specifically...

Oh, but chocolate cream made from some coconut oil, cocoa and barley malt is GREAT! Add some finely ground hazelnuts and some soy milk and there you have your vegan Nutella:))))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutella

[pkjane]

Saturated fat is bad for you.

 

You need mono and polyunsaturated. I found some macademia nut oil with 11 grams of mono and soooooooooooooooo delicious. Look for it!

[chewybaws]

I started taking 10g coconut oil a day when I read about the testosterone. It's also recommended in the thrive diet. It's not bad for you. The same with any food, don't eat too much of it.

[pkjane]

Eating a lot of saturated fat can increase the cholesterol in your blood. High levels of cholesterol can increase your risk of:

 

a heart attack,

stroke, and

narrowed arteries (atherosclerosis)

Cholesterol is a type of fat that your liver makes from the fatty food that you eat.

 

Saturated fat ARE BAD FATS!

 

Good fats include mono and polyunsaturated fat, such as Avacado, Macademia Nut, Almond oil are good fats and won't flood your blood stream with cholesterol (bad).

 

I maybe a new vegan, but I am not new to nutrtion and health.

[vegimator]

Definitely true pkjane but not all saturated fat sources are created equal. Foods like dark chocolate and virgin palm oil have been showing to improve blood lipid profiles despite high saturated fat content, possibly because they also contain monounsaturated fats but also possibly because of their high antioxidant content. The data on coconut oil is a bit more ambiguous though but I think it's not a big deal if you don't overdo it, and it's possibly even good for you in many ways, especially if you're eating the coconut meat and not just the separated oil.

[chrisjs]

Saturated fat ARE BAD FATS!

 

Good fats include mono and polyunsaturated fat, such as Avacado, Macademia Nut, Almond oil are good fats and won't flood your blood stream with cholesterol (bad).

 

I maybe a new vegan, but I am not new to nutrtion and health.

Will repeating that a third time make it true?

 

Very few things are universally bad, and saturated fats are not one of them. Cholesterol is also a hormone that's turned into a whole bunch of useful things, such as testosterone, which happens to be what most of the other replies on this thread are about.

 

The link between high saturated fat intake, serum cholesterol, and morbidity starts to fall apart when other lifestyle factors are taken into account, and while there probably is still some link, cooking or supplementing with a little bit of coconut or palm oil as discussed here is hardly enough to be of significant risk.

 

Also, the fat in both avocados and macademia nuts is around 17% saturated.

[Im Your Man]

coconut oil is good raw (as well as coconut water, milk, etc) but is also the best choice for cooking oil as I've read polyunsaturated fats like most vegetable oil are very unstable and become trans fats etc. Saturated fats in coconut oil make it the best fat on Earth to use for cooking. And butter is one of the worst choice even if its saturated, because it burns easily and becomes dark, toxic.

[Cellar Yeti]

I think my cholesterol is too low and supplementing saturated fat will help raise it a bit so I can put some weight on.

 

I'm Your Man, olive oil doesn't become a trans fat until it reaches 400 degrees. That doesn't happen on a home stove unless you're frying.

[Im Your Man]

What I've read wasn't only about trans fat, it was other things about polyuntarurated oils when cooked - sorry for not being more precise - and olive oil was one of the worst, alos because olive oil goes rancid very quickly, even if stored if a dark, dry and cool place; it started to become rancid when it was made at the facility and then it was exposed to light for who knows how long at the grocery store.

[vegimator]

You can smell when olive oil goes rancid and it typically takes months. It's also very difficult to create a trans fat. Yes, cooking at high temperatures can damage fragile omega 3s and produce free radicals, but it's not really possible to create trans fats by home cooking - http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/heating-olive-oil#Myths

 

 

Trans fats occur in small amounts in animal fat but pretty much only occur in plants when we hydrogenate plant oils.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fats#Presence_in_food

[beforewisdom]

Don't believe everything you read on the web, even on vegan web boards. Get your nutrition information from people with formal educations and degrees in nutrition who have an interest in veganism.

[Im Your Man]

Don't believe everything you read on the web, even on vegan web boards. Get your nutrition information from people with formal educations and degrees in nutrition who have an interest in veganism.

And also, don't believe everything you read from people with formal educations and degrees in nutrition who have an interest in veganism. BeforeWisdom, haven't you noticed yet there are many scientific studies that contradict eachothers? Some are good some are not, and sometimes someone on the web may speak the truth while some dietetician with diploma may say things that are not entirely true.

So we need to keep an open mind on everything but to be careful and to use our common sense. The human brain is the main tool to learn, study and observe our world so let's use our brain.