Bacon Fat?

(Geoffrey) #1

So thinking about another thread in regards to bacon I got to wondering.
Since pork meat doesn’t contain an unfavorable imbalance of omega 6-3 ratios does that also apply to bacon grease as well?
I’m not going to stop eating pork, especially my wild pork, as it doesn’t affect me but i do not eat pork all of the time.
I do use bacon grease more often though.
Is this something we should be aware of or does it not really matter as long as we are methodically healthy?

(KM) #2

I should give someone else a turn here, but I think a lot of the poor 6-3 ratio of pork - meat or fat or bacon - has to do with its factory-grain diet, so wild pork probably doesn’t suffer the same issue.

(And in truth I have no idea if the whole Omega Profile hypothesis holds water to begin with, it’s probably a lot more complicated than just those two variables.)

(Edith) #3

If I spend time worry about every little tiny thing I am doing with my food, I will go insane. I just do the best I can do. I use bacon fat from store bought bacon and I have made lard from conventionally raised pigs, but I figure it’s still better than using seed oils.

#4

My thinking is similar to @VirginiaEdie. And I can’t change my diet much anyway (or I can but things immediately get worse then).
My meat is probably 90% pork but my body doesn’t complain so I guess this omega 6/3 ratio is overrated…? Or I am just this resilient. I don’t know or care much, really. When I pretty much avoid plants, I feel quite fine (could be better but my problems are probably not even diet related ones) even with a big focus on mostly supermarket-bought pork.

(Bob M) #5

Good point, particularly for keto/carnivore/low carb folk.

(Robin) #6

That’s been my motto for a long time. I am already doing everything I can, so no reason to keep checking and measuring and researching. Just keep on keeping on.

(Geoffrey) #7

I feel the same but I was just curious about this and was wondering if anyone had any insight on this.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #8

It is known that the precise fats involved have an impact on health. Both types, ω-3 and ω-6, are essential, but not all ω-6 fatty acids out there are healthful; some are inflammatory. I presume the same is probably true of ω-3 fatty acids.

It is also known that both ω-3 fats and ω-6 fats compete for the same cell receptors, so the more we consume of one type, the less the other type is able to get to where it’s needed. Given the vast abundance of ω-6 fatty acids in processed foods, the challenge becomes reducing our intake of them, since it would be impossible to consume enough ω-3 to balance them. The fact that those ω-6’s are not the desirable ones is simply another reason to limit our intake of them.

So I’d say that we do need a better balance of ω-3 to ω-6, and given that we don’t need all that much of either, the focus should be on trying to get less ω-6 than on trying to increase ω-3 to match.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

Amen!