Hi Alex,

I second your confusion!   On the one hand, high omega-3 intake as suggested
by Dr. Cordain and Barry Sears (in his new book Omega RX Zone) seems to make
a lot of sense.   On the other hand, the benefits of saturated fat as
described by Mary Enig, Dr. Atkins, Dr. Schwarzbein and others also makes a
lot of sense.  Further confusing matters is the fact that there are also
those such as Barry Groves ("Eat Fat Get Thin" ) and Ray Peat who make
plausible arguments that polyunsaturated oils, whether from vegetable oils or
fish oils are prone to oxidation and can actually promote cancer. Below is an
interesting table of oxidation rates of various fats that Barry Groves was
kind enough to post on the Yahoo-UK low-carb group board:

Coconut oil: 32.48
Butter: 142.12
Beef dripping: 178.40
Mutton fat: 231.20
Olive oil: 362.80
Canola oil: 544.80
Soy oil: 608.00
Udo's oil: 933.60
Flax oil: 1035.20
Fish oil: 2172.80

At least from this table, it's clear why Barry Sears states in his new book
that one should take extra vitamin E when supplementing with fish oil.

Also adding to the confusion, according to Enig and Fallon on the Weston
Price web site, recent popular diet books purporting to describe the
healthful Japanese and Mediterranian diets have conveniently omitted sources
of saturated fats in both diets such as the pork, pork fat, beef, duck, etc.

Regards,

Adrienne