On Wed, 28 May 1997, Dean Esmay wrote:

> As for the suet itself being contaminated or containing poisons: I'd like
> to know what kind of evidence there is beyond vague philosophy that that
> modern beef fat actually has toxins in it.

In this case, the "toxin" is arachidonic acid.  Whether it
accumulates in suet is another question, which I can't answer.
Suet is the particular fat deposit around the kidneys, I believe.
I believe both Sears and Eades assert that domestic beef fat is
higher in AA than the wild or range-fed variety.  Same for eggs.
This is supposedly a consequence of these animals being fed diets
high in corn, soybeans, and other cereals.

> If you want, however, suet should be easily available from "free range"
> buffalo and other cattle.

I agree.

> As for the dangers of suet from modern cattle: Arachidonic Acid is one of
> the essential fatty acids necessary for health.  Barry Sears is the only
> person I've seen who generalizes about this stuff so broadly aside from
> vegetarian advocates.

Eades also has a lot to say about it, but claims that some people
are more "sensitive" to it than others.

> The way I would address this is to ask myself what
> the specific claim is that this stuff will do to you, and then see if your
> body responds in the predicted manner.  If it does not, you have to start
> wondering.  My cholesterol certainly did NOT get worse after I vastly
> increased the amount of AA in my diet.  I've never seen any strong evidence
> that AA is an actual danger (although I'm willing to be shown it if it
> exists--I'd appreciate hearing about any references in the peer-reviewed
> literature); even Barry Sears has backed down lately (not in his books but
> on his web site and in his public statements) saying that saturated fat
> doesn't turn out to be the danger it has so long been thought to be. (And
> of course any saturates he's talking about would be the supermarket kind.)

The Eades bibliography is floating around on the web somewhere,
and Sears has his on his web site too.  I lent my copy of
_Protein Power_ to someone, but I recall that there is a list of
symptoms of "AA sensitivity" in there somewhere.  I recall that
one of them is difficulty waking up in the morning.  Maybe
someone else has a copy of the book and can find the others.

It may be that AA itself, like dietary cholesterol, is not
problematic unless there are other dietary factors that make it
so, such as the AA/EPA ratio.  I commented more on this in my
reply to Andrew.

Meanwhile, thanks for the advice about rendering.  I didn't
follow that procedure when making my pemmican, and I almost
certainly didn't use enough tallow -- hence the crumbly
consistency.  It still tastes good, however, and the dried kiwi
bits really do lighten the flavor a bit.  They were a lucky
addition to the recipe.

Todd Moody
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www.sju.edu/~tmoody/