What does Conventional Pork and Canola Oil have in common?
posted on
November 4, 2024
Let's get straight to the point - conventional pork can have the same amount of toxic PUFA fats as Canola oil! Yuck!
Pigs are monogastric animals, which means they have a single stomach (like us!), which is very different than the 4 chamber stomach of a ruminant animal (like a cow).
As a result, the types of fat a pig consumes dietarily DIRECTLY impacts the types of fat in their tissues. Which changes the types of fat we consume when we eat pork!
The diets of hogs have changed pretty dramatically over the last 100 years, and this has had a disastrous impact on human metabolism. You are what you eat!
Pork used to be low in PUFA since they weren't stuffed with high PUFA ingredients such as soy. But now, conventional pork is a high PUFA source in our diets!
Pigs are vehicles for vegetable oils. Meaning, if they eat PUFAs in their feed, their fat will have more PUFAs.
WHAT ARE PUFAs?
You may have heard that vegetable oils and seeds oils are toxic and inflammatory. The reason is because of the types of fat in the oil - high in PUFAs! (Largely Omega 6s)
The fat we consume is used as a fuel source, but it is also used to make up structures inside of us, which impacts how our bodies function since the types of dietary fat we consume serve as signaling molecules - impacting metabolism, gut health, cellular repair, & more.


Excess PUFA consumption has been shown to:
• negatively impact thyroid health
• down regulate metabolisms (meaning you gain weight at fewer calories)
• hinder carb utilization
• damage gut integrity by increasing gut permeability
• and increase oxidation and cellular damage
More PUFA inside of you = slowed metabolic rate (meaning you gain weight on fewer calories) + formation of more toxic byproducts from the oxidation of those PUFAs.
There are hundreds of studies documenting that increasing PUFA content of hog feed increases the PUFA content in pork fat (and thus, the total amount of PUFAs you consume in your diet!)
It didn't always used to be this way. Just like the Standard American Diet, hog diets used to be LOW in PUFAs, leading to pork fat having higher saturated fat and less PUFAs.
At Nourish, our goal is to produce food how it used to be produced! Our hogs eat a custom-made low PUFA diet and are outside on pasture - leading to a more natural diet and LESS PUFAS in the pork.
Stay Saturated,
Farmer Ash
