Which Oil Is Highest in Saturated Fat?

Get the best of POPSUGAR
Fitness — in your inbox!

Help us customize your newsletter by selecting your interests (optional):

Food Yoga Working Out Running

Which Oil Is Highest in Saturated Fat?

March 10, 2008

We all know trans fat is bad for us, but many other oils used in products we buy are heavy in saturated fat, which can increase blood cholesterol levels if consumed regularly. So do you know which oil contains the highest amount of saturated fat? Take this short quiz to find out.

Source

8 Comments

2 years 22 weeks

nikolem2, you're actually completely backwards unfortunately. There are huge misconceptions between saturated, polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. Saturated fats are the shortest chain, monounsaturated are long chain and polunsaturated fats are the longest of all. The longer they are, the more unstable they are. Saturated fats are the most stable forms of fat, they do not denature and break down with cooking heat like mono and poly's do and they are the most easily converted into energy. Did you know that the cell membranes in our bodies are made up of mostly saturated fats with some mono and almost no poly's? You won't find much polyunsaturated fat at all in the human body! Saturated fats are the healthiest fats to ingest. A little history: Back in the early 1900's when the EKG was invented, the creator was laughed out of John's Hopkins University because heart disease was so rare in America, it wouldn't sell well to general hospitals. Back then, Americans got their fats from butters, animal fats and cheaply produced coconut oil - almost entirely saturated fat. Back then, plant-based fats were used in paints and varnishes. Fast forward to WWII and heavy industry was brought to the US. This industry created cheap chemicals that would replace the plant-based oils in paint products. The plant-based oil companies started taking skewed research from Ancel Keyes, who advocated a low fat low cholesterol diet free of sugars, white flours/white rice/white potatoes and vigorous exercise. The plant industry downlplayed the whole exercise/no simple sugars angle and focused on the low fat/low cholesterol idea (which consequently is making America fat since sugars contribute to obesity much more than any fats). Through government lobbies and lots and lots of money and subsidies, plant-based oils are now in seemingly everything, butter is considered evil and coconut oil is rare and expensive. Our intake of polyunsaturated fats has increased 400%, carb consumption is up 60% and heart disease is now the #1 killer in America since WWII. Let's put it into perspective: the human body is made to digest fats - FROM ANIMALS. Where do you get large quantities of fats in nature? Animals, obviously. In one Tbsp. of oil, you get 14 grams of fat. Do you have any idea how much broccoli, carrots and corn you'd have to eat to get 14 GRAMS OF FAT? POUNDS!! Your body is NOT made to digest vegetable oils because they barely exist in nature. They are heavily processed - the vegetables/seeds are heavily bleached, heated to very high temperatures and chemicals are used to extract the oils. Make no mistake about it - vegetable oils are what's killing Americans, not animals fats. You are designed to eat animals fats, my friends, not plant oils. What are exceptions? Olives and coconuts are high in fat naturally. You can actually crush them with your feet and extract oils - no processing needed. That's why they're some of the healthiest oils. Remember though, olive oil is a monounsaturated fat and is long-chain and more unstable so you should not heat it. It breaks down and you'll get some trans fat out of it with heat. When you cook with oils, use either virgin coconut oil or all natural butter. They are stable and heat-safe. For cold oils such as salad dressings, extra virgin olive oil is your friend. Don't get pure olive oil, light olive oil, extra light olive oil, etc. They are all processed and heated just like the bad vegetable oils. Make sure it is COLD PRESSED EXTRA VIRGIN.

raieven 5 years 10 weeks

I adore coconut oil. its also great on your skin :)

ElissaM 5 years 10 weeks

100% :)

ElissaM 5 years 10 weeks

100% :)

TidalWave 5 years 10 weeks

wow, canola oil is that low? really? because i never cook with it. interesting.

nikolem2 5 years 10 weeks

I'm a firm believer that nothing that's natural or from plants can be bad for our health--in terms of edible food (obviously I'm not talking about drugs, tobacco or poisonous foods). I think the gov't has got it all wrong, and nutrition science is very young. I believe there is a BIG difference between saturated fats from animals and saturated fats from plants. Read "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan for more on this subject and more!