Beef Tallow for Health: A Political-Commercial Farce

Beef tallow has just lately been getting numerous consideration. It’s all the trend based on Google search developments, which illustrate a dramatic spike in curiosity over the previous few weeks.^[1] A pair issues are contributing to this surge. First, social media influencers have reportedly been utilizing the rendered fats (usually obtained from round cows’ organs) as a part of their skincare regimens.^[1] Which may sound greater than a bit of gross to some individuals, however not less than it’s the form of development you’d anticipate social media influencers to be leaping on board with.

Right here’s one thing extra stunning, arguably much more vital, and one way or the other much more ludicrous than smearing beef fats into the folds of your pores and skin: in a latest video section that I might simply as simply have imagined being scripted as satire, the type of factor one would possibly anticipate to see on Saturday Evening Dwell, the US Division of Well being and Human Companies secretary sat down in a quick meals restaurant with a Fox host to debate the horrors of ultraprocessed meals whereas consuming a burger and fries.^[2] The surreal dialog, during which the secretary applauds Steak ’n Shake’s rising dedication to actual meals due to the corporate’s latest shift towards utilizing beef tallow, apparently displays the objectives of the Make America Wholesome Once more Fee.

Should you haven’t seen or heard in regards to the clip, you is perhaps shocked by the suggestion that the Steak ’n Shake chain might ever be related to, a lot much less dedicated to, actual meals. I do know I used to be. This is identical Steak ’n Shake that sells cotton sweet shakes on the youngsters’ menu and doesn’t checklist the components for his or her syrups, ice cream mixes, or whipped lotions (or anyway, not in a spot that’s simply accessible for purchasers to view; I’ve tried to seek out that info in order that I might higher admire the chain’s dedication to actual meals, however they don’t make it simple).^[3] The identical Steak ’n Shake that sells an “Insane Seven-Patty Steakburger,” an ideal alternative for anybody hoping to load up on fats, ldl cholesterol, sodium, and animal protein.^[4] If that is the place we’re directing our efforts to make America wholesome once more, what’s subsequent? The CEO of KFC to go up the US Dietary Tips Advisory Committee?

Let’s be clear: the present state of malnutrition within the US isn’t present in origin. The blame for our epidemics of illness can’t and shouldn’t be positioned on the ft of the current administration or secretary. Neither are they chargeable for the epidemic of diet illiteracy, which fits again many years not less than. Nonetheless, it’s tough to not be alarmed and disheartened when that secretary demonstrates such a blatant incapacity to make use of or perceive diet, which has a lot potential for addressing the catastrophic state of well being.

Again to the meat tallow, although, the entire level of this weird episode—the meat tallow Steak ’n Shake is now utilizing rather than seed oils to organize their fries. Is there any credibility to the suggestion that beef tallow is a more healthy different to seed oils?

The Kernel of Reality: Plant-Derived Oils Are Not Wholesome

The most typical concern cited about seed oils is that they’ve excessive ranges of omega-6 fatty acids. Nevertheless, it’s not simply the overall quantity of omega-6 fatty acids that issues. Analysis means that extra vital than the overall quantity is the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.^[5][6] Because the story goes, omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory and omega-3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory, that means {that a} ratio skewing too far within the path of the omega-6 fatty acids—as within the case of most seed oils—could produce extra irritation within the physique, which can contribute to quite a few destructive outcomes.

Detractors of seed oils spotlight these fatty acid profiles and level out that the usual American weight loss plan has grow to be more and more inflammatory. It’s the seed oils which might be contributing to ailments of irritation, they are saying. It’s the seed oils which might be making us overweight, they are saying. And whereas it’s true that the elevated consumption of processed meals containing seed oils is taking part in a job within the nation’s total declining well being, seed oils usually are not solely guilty. One other issue within the rising ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is the elevated consumption of animal merchandise: animals in manufacturing unit farms are fed grain, particularly corn, to maximise their progress, which leads to the next focus of omega-6 fatty acids of their tissues.^[7]

It’s deceptive and shortsighted guilty seed oils for the continual illness epidemics overrunning our society. To make use of a illness metaphor, the next ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is just one symptom of the damaged dietary sample. The usual American weight loss plan is characterised by greater than the consumption of ultraprocessed meals; we aren’t going to resolve something by scapegoating only one group of components utilized in these meals (seed oils) whereas ignoring the remaining and failing to handle the excessive consumption of animal-based merchandise in addition to the abysmally low consumption of unprocessed plant meals.

Having mentioned that, nobody might deny that seed oils make a handy scapegoat, as confirmed by the Steak ’n Shake instance. When the objective is actually to take care of the identical unhealthy weight loss plan, to proceed consuming fries and animal-based meals, a myopic concentrate on seed oils does the trick. (Learn more about plant-based oils, together with olive oil, and why we don’t suggest them as half of a complete meals, plant-based weight loss plan.)

The Meat of the Matter: Beef Tallow Is Not Wholesome

So, beef tallow advocates level to what they see because the toxicity of seed oils. By comparability, they recommend, beef tallow is a much more pure fats supply. It’s what our mother and father or grandparents may need eaten with their fried potatoes, again earlier than we grew to become so visibly sick as a nation. They provide a number of explanations for why tallow is a more healthy alternative, however listed below are three of the commonest causes that I’ve seen repeated advert nauseam:

1. Saturated fats isn’t as unhealthy as we’ve been led to imagine.
2. You may get small quantities of fat-soluble nutritional vitamins (e.g., nutritional vitamins E and D) from tallow.
3. Beef tallow is extra appropriate with low-carb, high-fat diets.

Saturated fats is a really complicated matter for many individuals. A part of the reason being that public well being authorities have been advocating for lowering saturated fats intakes for many years, with seemingly little to indicate for it. For a skeptical one that doesn’t have the time or the experience to dig into the analysis, it may be simple to really feel just like the push towards low-fat diets has failed.

Many studies involving “low-fat diets” could be cited to assist this narrative. The issue is that the brink for what many researchers contemplate a low-fat weight loss plan is usually not low sufficient. If we had been to pick 1000’s of American topics presently getting about 35 % of their energy from fats and encourage them to limit that consumption to about 25 % of energy, would it not make a significant distinction? Maybe we might obtain marginal positive aspects from such a average fats discount, however so long as the general dietary sample remained the identical, we might be unlikely to see vital enhancements in continual illness charges. What is required, as an alternative, is a dietary overhaul centered on complete plant-based meals, which might by the way end in a extra substantial fats discount. However that’s not what we get from many of the research on “low-fat diets,” and so, a lot of them contribute to the concept fats consumption isn’t associated to illness outcomes.

Add to this morass the numerous industry-funded research, and it will probably start to really feel just like the scientific consensus to cut back saturated fats consumption is constructed on very shaky floor. Earlier than you already know it, media retailers like Time, maybe in a determined try and make up for the demise of print journal gross sales, are publishing cowl tales with sensationalist headlines like “Eat Butter.”

There may be additionally an interpretation of the research that implies saturated fats isn’t an particularly seemingly perpetrator for illness causation as a result of it’s biochemically inert; in actual fact, unsaturated fat, usually touted as “good fat,” are extra biologically lively and have been proven to extra successfully promote sure ailments in experimental settings. Does this imply saturated fats is wholesome? No. Does it imply the meals containing saturated fats—virtually totally animal-based merchandise—are wholesome? No. The case for not consuming these meals is broad and compelling no matter whether or not saturated fats is the first perpetrator for illness.

The selection between saturated fats–containing merchandise, like tallow, and alternate options like seed oils, is well avoidable. An excessive amount of of the discourse about varieties of fats presents a false dilemma, as if we want sources of added fats. In fact, we don’t. We will receive the important fatty acids from complete meals. That is one more reason we don’t suggest plant-based oils however recommend a 3rd possibility, to skip each the tallow and the plant-based oil. Each merchandise are calorically dense, that means they crowd out more healthy selections, and comparatively empty nutritionally.

This brings me to the second level listed earlier. Though tallow could comprise small quantities of a few nutritional vitamins, we can obtain those nutrients, plus the numerous different important vitamins, much more successfully and healthily from minimally processed plant meals (and sunshine).

The third level is illogical however quite common. Simply because utilizing tallow conforms effectively with low-carb, high-fat diets doesn’t imply tallow is wholesome. Even when these diets had been provably wholesome, which they aren’t, it could point out nothing in regards to the healthfulness of tallow. Nonetheless, many individuals assume these diets are wholesome as a result of they know individuals attempting to get wholesome (or, extra seemingly, attempting to shed weight) utilizing these diets; of their minds, keto-friendly can start to imagine the connotations of well being consciousness usually. (Learn more about these diets.)

The reality is more durable to swallow: even when the fatty drippings from beef had been a more healthy alternative on your fries, they might by no means remodel an unhealthy meal right into a wholesome meal. All of the furore in regards to the fats our potatoes are fried in distracts from much more substantial issues. It’s one more instance of how so many individuals would fairly concentrate on superficial targets whereas avoiding the mandatory adjustments staring us within the face. If we wish to make America wholesome once more, we might do much better to skip the likes of Steak ’n Shake and concentrate on cultivating a more healthy life-style that features bodily train, stress administration, high-quality sleep, and whole food, plant-based nutrition.

References

1. Google Developments. “Beef Tallow.” Accessed on-line: March 18, 2025.
2. Fox Information. RFK Jr.: We are poisoning ourselves (YouTube video). Printed March 10, 2025.
3. Steak ’n Shake. Nutrition & Allergens Webpage (EveryBite.com). Accessed on-line: March 19, 2025.
4. McKeever A. Steak ’n Shake rolls out insane seven-patty steakburger. Eater.com. February 26, 2013.
5. Simopoulos AP. An Enhance within the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio Will increase the Danger for Weight problems. Vitamins. 2016;8(3):128. Printed 2016 Mar 2. doi:10.3390/nu8030128
6. Simopoulos AP, DiNicolantonio JJ. The significance of a balanced ω-6 to ω-3 ratio within the prevention and administration of weight problems. Open Coronary heart. 2016;3(2):e000385. Printed 2016 Sep 20. doi:10.1136/openhrt-2015-000385
7. Ponnampalam EN, Mann NJ, Sinclair AJ. Impact of feeding techniques on omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and trans fatty acids in Australian beef cuts: potential impression on human well being. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15(1):21-29.