These Restaurants Are Making The Switch To Beef Tallow – But Is It Really Healthier?

Several US fast food chains have reportedly switched from frying food in vegetable oils to beef tallow amid claims that vegetable oils are unhealthy.

Steak ‘N Shake, Popeyes, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Outback Steakhouse are thought to be among those that have recently ditched – or are planning to ditch – vegetable oils, mainly “seed oils” such as canola (rapeseed) and sunflower oil. “Our fries will now be cooked in an authentic way, 100% beef tallow, in order to achieve the highest quality and best taste,” Steak ‘N Shake’s chief supply chain officer Chris Ward said in a statement. Independent restaurants are ditching seed oils in favor of beef tallow too. There are even websites and apps to help people find “seed oil free” restaurants.

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A recent Fox News segment discussed the “beef tallow movement” in restaurants. On it, Calley Means, founder of private healthcare provider Truemed, described the use of seed oils in fast food as a “disaster.” Meanwhile, many social media accounts are promoting beef tallow as the healthy, more “natural” alternative.

With nutritional misinformation being rife on social media, what’s the reality when it comes to seed oils versus beef tallow?

What are seed oils and beef tallow?

The most common seed oils are canola, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed and rice bran oils. Oil can be extracted from seeds using the cold press method, which does not require chemicals or further refinement. However, industrially produced seed oils will use higher heat, a solvent called hexane to dissolve the seed, and refinement in the extraction method.

Beef tallow is rendered (slowly heated) and clarified fat that comes from around the organs of cows. It’s solid at room temperature. As well as being used in cooking, TikTok has turned it into a skin care products, though there’s little evidence to support claims for its beauty benefits.

Origins of the seed oil controversy

In 2020, carnivore diet advocate Paul Saladino went on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, and said that seed oils are bad for health. In his view, seed oils cause inflammation in the body. Additionally, the omega-6 content of seed oils increases oxidized LDL (the “bad” cholesterol) in the blood. This, he says, raises the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Saladino’s ideas on seed oils helped stoke more widespread seed oil hatred. The eight most common seed oils have literally been dubbed “The Hateful Eight” by Dr. Cate Shanahan, who calls herself “the Mother of the No Seed Oil Movement.” Now social media posts urging people to avoid seed oils get millions of views.

Read more: The 5 Most Nutritious Seeds To Add To Your Diet

Recently, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Junior, often called RFK, has also taken up the anti-seed oil crusade. In his push to “Make America Healthy Again” he has demonized seed oils on social media, saying that people are being “unknowingly poisoned” by their use in fast food.

Seed oils are not ‘poison’

Seed oils contain unsaturated fat inclduing omega-6 and a specific type of omega-6 called linoleic acid. They also contain a small amount of vitamins K and E. Many health experts say that while seed oils aren’t exactly a health food, the social media backlash against them is unwarranted.

We need to get omega-6 through our diets, and seed oils can be a source of that. Anti-seed oil influencers say that omega-6 fatty acids cause inflammation in the body, contributing to chronic diseases. But the evidence doesn’t back up this claim. A 2020 review found that linoleic acid was linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Another wide-ranging review found the same link between linoleic acid and a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease. A third review found that higher levels of linoleic acid in the diet resulted in lower levels of inflammation.

The production method of seed oils is another reason that they have gained a bad reputation. In his Fox News interview, Calley Means describes the industrial process and says that it oxidizes the oil and makes it very inflammatory. But again, there isn’t evidence that this process specifically makes seed oils worse for your health. Meanwhile, the hexane used to extract oils from seeds is removed from the oils in processing.

Reusing oil is unhealthy

The problem of oxidative stress on the body from seed oils is more likely to arise if the same oil is reheated over and over. This increases the harmful compounds in the oil while reducing its beneficial properties. Some fast food restaurants reuse cooking oil because it’s cheaper and faster.

Eating a lot of fried fast food is also known to be bad for the heart and contribute to weight gain Additionally, the ubiquity of vegetable oils in processed food products means that people are eating more of them. But these foods are also high in salt, sugar, and additives, and have little nutritional value. So avoiding too many unhealthy processed foods matters more than never using sunflower oil to cook a stir-fry at home.

Beef tallow is not a health food

So if seed oils aren’t actually going to give you diabetes and heart disease, is there any benefit to restaurants ditching them for beef tallow?

Beef tallow primarily contains saturated fat. One tablespoon is almost half saturated fat, 115 calories, and 14mg of cholesterol. It also contains vitamins E and D. Some of the saturated fat in beef tallow is stearic acid, which offsets some of the fat’s cholesterol-raising properties. However, it’s recommended to limit the amount of tallow consumed by people who are trying to lower their cholesterol.

Diets high in saturated fat have been linked to inflammation and higher risk of cardiovascular disease. However, this doesn’t mean saturated fat must be avoided completely, but its consumption should be limited.

Read more: Most Americans Wrongly Think It’s Important To Eat Animal Products For Protein

There is no clear benefit for restaurants switching over to beef tallow, and it is unlikely to do much for people who eat a lot of fast food. According to a 2016 review, the increase in fast food consumption is “a main risk factor for lower diet quality, higher calorie and fat intake and lower micronutrients density of diet.” Eating it frequently contributes to obesity, disrupts regulation of insulin and glucose, and increases systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress.

Based on the evidence, whether your fries are cooked in seed oils or beef tallow is going to matter less to your health than if you’re eating loads of fast food. Meanwhile, there are clear benefits to a plant-based diet, including improved gut health and a healthier heart.