Animal Fat is Real Food. Seed Oils Are Industrial Byproducts.Lard is simply rendered pork fat.
What are the main benefits of animal fats vs. seed oils?
Lard is simply rendered pork fat. Tallow is rendered beef fat. Duck fat is, well, rendered duck fat. Nothing added, nothing hidden. No chemical solvents. No bleaching. No deodorizing. Just fat, gentle heat, and a strainer.
Seed oils, on the other hand, are a whole different animal, which is to say they are not an animal at all, but rather the output of high-heat industrial processing using solvents like hexane (yes, the same kind found in adhesives). Canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower—none of these oils exist in a form you'd ever encounter in nature. They’re not naturally "rendered"; they’re extracted, refined, deodorized, and bleached to make the otherwise inedible edible.
While animal fats like tallow, duck fat, and animal fat are often preferred for their flavor and stability in traditional cooking, it's worth noting that they don't always outperform refined seed oils in raw smoke point numbers. In fact, many refined seed oils have higher smoke points due to processing.
However, smoke point isn't the only factor that matters. When it comes to oxidative stability and the types of fats present, animal fats are rich in saturated and monounsaturated fats, which are generally more stable than the polyunsaturated fats found in seed oils. That means they're less likely to break down into harmful byproducts during typical home cooking.
Still, for extremely high-heat applications, like deep-frying, it's a nuanced call—and one that depends on freshness, refinement, and cooking context.
Seed oils are packed with polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), which are fragile and oxidize easily. Heat, time, light, air—PUFAs don't like any of it. That oxidation creates free radicals, which have been linked to inflammation and a whole host of chronic conditions.
If you’re roasting, frying, or sautéing, animal fats play the long game. Seed oils break down.
Your brain, hormones, immune system, and metabolism all run on fat. The good kind. The kind your body recognizes and knows how to use.
While lard from pasture-raised pigs is often praised online for its vitamin content, independent lab testing we've conducted over the past 15 years shows that meaningful amounts of vitamin D or A just aren't present. People often push back on this because they want it to be true, but when they ask the websites for test results to back the claims, there are none. We genuinely wish the vitamins were there in useful amounts. But they’re not.
As we always say, the real value in animal fat lies in its fatty acid profile: a natural balance of saturated, monounsaturated, and healthy amounts of polyunsaturated fats that support satiety, blood sugar regulation, and healthy cell membranes.
These are fats your body knows how to use. By contrast, seed oils are overloaded with omega-6s, low in anything redeeming, and known to throw your fat ratios out of balance.
Flaky pie crusts. Crispy potatoes. Seared steaks. Biscuits that actually mean it. Lard doesn’t just cook—it elevates.
Refined seed oils taste like nothing. Unless they’re rancid, then they taste like spoonfuls of regret.
Concerns about seed oils didn’t suddenly emerge with the rise of RFK or a new batch of online wellness influencers. We've been calling out the dangers of seed oils for fifteen years—that’s why we started Fatworks in the first place. And long before we ever weighed in, researchers were already sounding the alarm. The research being discussed today is built on decades of scientific evidence, and yes, millions of anecdotes from people following Paleo and Keto lifestyles. These concerns are now supported by modern studies that raise red flags about oxidation, inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction.
- A 2020 paper in Open Heart argued that seed oils high in omega-6 may contribute to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic inflammation. (DiNicolantonio & O’Keefe)
- Grootveld et al. (2019) found that heating seed oils produces toxic byproducts like aldehydes, which are linked to DNA damage and neurodegeneration.
- Animal studies, such as Hansen et al. (2014), show that diets high in linoleic acid can promote insulin resistance, liver inflammation, and fat gain.
- NIH researcher Joseph Hibbeln has associated rising omega-6 intake with increased rates of depression and aggression.
These concerns are echoed by a growing number of physicians and researchers:
- Dr. Cate Shanahan calls refined seed oils the “hatred oils” in her book Deep Nutrition, warning they disrupt cellular health.
- Dr. Chris A. Knobbe, an ophthalmologist, founded the Cure AMD Foundation after linking Western seed oil-heavy diets to chronic disease. He calls them “the primary drivers of chronic disease.”
- Dr. Jack Wolfson, a Scottsdale, AZ cardiologist, shifted to a holistic, diet-focused practice. He and his wife, Dr. Heather Wolfson, co-authored The Paleo Cardiologist and host The Healthy Heart Show, emphasizing whole-food fats and rejecting industrial seed oils.
- Dr. Brian Lenzkes, a practicing internal medicine doctor, has discussed how seed oils contribute to metabolic dysfunction and food addiction.
- Dr. David Perlmutter, board-certified neurologist, warns that heating omega-6 oils produces HNE, a toxic aldehyde implicated in obesity, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegeneration.
And we’ve been living with the fallout ever since. As seed oil consumption skyrocketed, so did rates of heart disease, obesity, and autoimmune disorders.
We’re also well aware that the seed oil industry isn’t going down quietly. In recent years, there’s been a surge of new studies and articles defending seed oils, framing them as benign or even beneficial. But many of these feel rushed—more like a coordinated response to mounting criticism than balanced scientific inquiry. When a multibillion-dollar industry is under pressure, it tends to push back hard. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing now.
We’ve always found it ironic how seed oils—industrial concoctions that our bodies treat like low-dose poisons—have received a health halo for years, while traditional fats, the ones humans have adapted to eat over millennia, get maligned and marginalized.
Animal fats are whole foods, and fat...works. They’re part of how we’re built to eat, AND they add a whole lot of delicious to your meals. We will never cease being amazed that the mainstream STILL tries to frame animal fats as a trend.
Choosing animal fats like tallow, butter, ghee, or yes, even lard, isn’t a fad. It’s a return to what has nourished humans for generations.
Fake fats make you sick. Real fat...works.
Fatworks is a family-owned company that has been crafting the finest premium traditional Organic and Pasture-Raised fats (Tallow, Lard, Poultry Fats, and Ghee) since 2011. We have been tireless crusaders against industrialized seed oils and fat-phobia everywhere. Our products are absolutely and unapologetically premium fat sourced from the best farmers in the U.S.A.
