Are saturated fats generally a better choice than unsaturated plant oils for cooking, considering oxidation and overall health effects?
The debate is whether saturated animal fats or unsaturated plant oils are the better choice for cooking, focusing on oxidation during heating and possible health effects. Jockers (Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition) and Wolfson (Culture Apothecary) argue for saturated fats, while Norton (The Peter Attia Drive) and Huberman (Huberman Lab) favor unsaturated or olive oils. These podcast discussions span from late 2025 through late 2026.
Saturated fats are more stable and healthier, so they are better for cooking.
Jockers (Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition) claims saturated fat is the best fat to cook with because it is less prone to oxidation. Jockers says a higher percentage of saturated fat increases oxidative stability and therefore makes a fat better for cooking. Wolfson (Culture Apothecary) advises that cooking with saturated fats like butter, ghee, and tallow from natural sources is the best option. Rofrano (Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition) recommends tallow and ghee for very high-heat frying to avoid smoke, noting lard has a relatively low smoke point.
4 claims, in their words
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“for any high fat frying, like really high, like if you're really trying to avoid smoke, I think the best things to use are probably tallow or, or, or even ghee is better. Lard, lard has a relatively low smoke point also, similar to tallow, like they're not, they're not super refined.”
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“Saturated fat is actually the best one to cook with.”
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“The more saturated fat it is, the higher percentage of saturated fat, the less prone to oxidation, the higher the oxidative stability, and the better it is to cook with.”
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“Cooking with Saturated fats, cooking with butter, ghee, tallow from natural best sources, that is going to be the best thing for us to do.”
Unsaturated plant oils are as good or better overall for cooking and health.
Norton (The Peter Attia Drive) cites data that seed oils need temperatures well above 200°C for hours before meaningful oxidation occurs. Norton says that when seed oils are heated in large volumes under vacuum during processing, their oxidation rate stays low. St-Onge (Huberman Lab) recommends using oils that remain liquid at room temperature as a guide for better choices and states all fats are acceptable in moderation. Thompson and Huberman (Huberman Lab) promote olive oil with small amounts of butter, arguing that high overall saturated fat intake is the main concern.
6 claims, in their words
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“most of them, you got to be well over 200 degrees Celsius, and you've got to do it for hours. ... if you heat it at like 240 degrees Celsius for like three hours, you will start to get 8% of the oil being oxidized.”
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“when these oils are in a large volume, the rate of oxidation is low, even with heating. By the way, all the heating in the processing these oils is done under a vacuum, which means there's no oxygen, which means virtually no chance for oxidation, even when In restaurants, however, when you are frying something, especially if you are frying”
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“oils are, that remain liquid at room temperature, that should be your, your, your barometer for what's better to use. I'm also not saying that people should avoid butter like the plague, right? So all in moderation is, is okay.”
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“olive oil is the best, obviously, and then small amounts of butter. I don't think, you know, lard is bad in small amounts. I think the problem is overall amount of saturated fat, right?”
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“the safest thing is to just use olive oil and a little bit of butter here and there, right? Like, okay, no one debates olive oil. It's kind of wild. No one debates. Everyone knows it's good for you. No one thinks it's bad for you.”
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“polyunsaturated fats have a lot of proof that they're very safe. Where you get into problems if you have a big container of it, like a huge container, they're not going to use it in a reasonable amount of time. And sitting in the sun is Something and you get oxidize, you know, it oxidizes.”
Listeners of “Unsaturated plant oils are as good or better overall for cooking and health.” have not heard
Listeners of these shows have not heard Jockers (Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition) states that saturated fat is the best fat to cook with. Jockers argues that higher saturated fat content increases oxidative stability and therefore makes a fat better for cooking. Wolfson (Culture Apothecary) claims that saturated fats such as butter, ghee, and tallow from natural sources are the best option for cooking.
3 unanswered arguments, in their words
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“Saturated fat is actually the best one to cook with.”
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“The more saturated fat it is, the higher percentage of saturated fat, the less prone to oxidation, the higher the oxidative stability, and the better it is to cook with.”
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“Cooking with Saturated fats, cooking with butter, ghee, tallow from natural best sources, that is going to be the best thing for us to do.”
Listeners of “Saturated fats are more stable and healthier, so they are better for cooking.” have not heard
Listeners of these shows have not heard St-Onge (Huberman Lab) says oils that stay liquid at room temperature are better to use as cooking fats. St-Onge also notes that butter does not need to be completely avoided, emphasizing moderation for all fats.
1 unanswered argument, in their words
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“oils are, that remain liquid at room temperature, that should be your, your, your barometer for what's better to use. I'm also not saying that people should avoid butter like the plague, right? So all in moderation is, is okay.”
The saturated-fat advocates lean on claims that higher saturation improves oxidative stability and cooking suitability, which the plant-oil advocates do not directly discuss. The plant-oil advocates emphasize data on low oxidation of seed oils under typical heating and favor liquid oils, which saturated-fat advocates do not directly address.
- Oct 31, 2026 Published: cleared the gate.
- Oct 31, 2026 8 new claims (The Peter Attia Drive, Huberman Lab).
- Oct 7, 2026 7 new claims (Culture Apothecary, Huberman Lab, Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition).
- Oct 7, 2026 3 new claims (Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition, The Ultimate Human).
Published because: 4 shows, 2 positions, 320 days of debate. Questions publish only when claims come from at least three shows, at least two positions are held by different people, and the debate has lasted two weeks.
Pairs are matched by content across different episodes and shows; no exchange between these speakers took place unless both quotes come from the same episode.
The prose on this page is written by a model from the quotes shown, and every sentence of it rests on quotes you can open; sentences that could not be traced to a quote were removed before publishing. Positions are placed from each speaker's own words. Evidence labels say what the speaker cited, never whether it is true.
6 episodes behind this page
- 2026-09-21Huberman Lab — Best Tools for Gut Health & Weight Loss | Dr. Chris Thompson
- 2026-06-08Huberman Lab — Eating for Better Sleep & Foods that Improve Metabolic Health | Dr. Marie-Pierre St-Onge
- 2026-02-13Culture Apothecary — The Heart Disease Lie: It’s Not Genetic & Cholesterol Isn’t the Enemy | Dr. Jack Wolfson, DO
- 2026-02-12Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition — The Truth About Saturated Fat and Heart Disease (Latest Research!)
- 2026-01-19The Peter Attia Drive — #380 ‒ The seed oil debate: are they uniquely harmful relative to other dietary fats? | Layne Norton, Ph.D.
- 2025-11-04Dr. Jockers Functional Nutrition — Seed Oils vs Beef Tallow: The Battle That's Changing the Food Industry with Steven Rofrano
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