
Beef Fat Prevents Alcoholic Liver Disease in the Rat - fortran77
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1530-0277.1989.tb00276.x
======
nkingsy
Anecdotally, Irish sausages are the world's best hangover cure (pig fat).
Spent a year in Galway in college. The first time I tried an Irish sausage, it
made my stomach turn. Tried them again with a hangover and it was like angels
were singing.

------
robocat
Media baiting paper title.

What they believe they found was that lineolic acid caused liver disease:

"The degree of histopathological abnormality correlated with the linoleic acid
content of fat in the diet (tallow 0.7%, lard 2.5%, corn oil 56.6%). We
postulate that linoleic acid facilitates development of ALD and provides an
explanation for our previous epidemiological observations."

I.e. they believe that beef fat has no protective function, it's just neutral.
I only read abstract, so maybe paper has something different to say.

~~~
cung
I’m pretty sure this is happening due to the omega fat ratio. Corn oil is just
omega-6, which is bad for you alone.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio_of_fatty_acids_in_differ...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratio_of_fatty_acids_in_different_foods)

Beef fat might be neutral in terms of ALD, as it doesn’t contain any
polyunsaturated fat.

------
hannibalhorn
That explains Argentina.

Seriously though, this study was published in 1989, so doesn't seem to be all
that newsworthy?

~~~
sjg007
A more recent summary:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808795/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808795/)

------
gridlockd
The headline is ridiculous. If anything, beef fat doesn't _prevent_ ALD, corn
oil _promotes_ ALD.

There's mounting evidence that supposedly "bad fats" (saturated) aren't really
that bad, whereas supposedly "good fats" (polyunsaturated fats as in vegetable
oils) are actually bad, at least in the amounts that we consume them.

[https://paleoleap.com/many-dangers-of-excess-pufa-
consumptio...](https://paleoleap.com/many-dangers-of-excess-pufa-consumption/)

(I know this source is biased, feel free to prove me wrong)

------
aloukissas
So they validated that the Ron Swanson diet is healthy(-ish).

Love it.

------
amriksohata
In a rat, but too much red meat is also linked with cancer.

~~~
gridlockd
Increased red meat consumption is associated with a moderately elevated risk
of cancer, but what counts as "red meat" varies. Processed meat with tons of
additives and preservatives isn't the same as beef.

In any event, the headline of the study should be that polyunsaturated fat
promotes fatty liver disease, because both lard _and_ tallow (both mostly
satured) did not promote it significantly, but lard has a bit more
polyunsaturated fat than tallow, whereas corn oil is almost completely
polyunsaturated.

