Can lard protect cardiovascular system, detoxify, prevent cancer, etc.? People who eat it often must read this!

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center

Reviewer: Song Shuang, Associate Researcher, Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

gossip

Speaking of lard, the first thing that comes to mind is - fragrance.

Memories of lard rice, lard residue, lard stir-fry... and so on will emerge from the mind, and the taste of childhood will bloom deep in the taste buds.

However, controversies regarding lard have been common in recent years.

Some people say: "Lard is high in saturated fat and is the culprit of cardiovascular disease. Don't eat it if you can avoid it!"

Some people say: "Chinese people have used lard for generations, but now they don't eat lard anymore. Heart disease has become the number one killer. Lard has the function of detoxifying and preventing cancer and other diseases."

…

Is lard good or bad for your health?

analyze

Why is lard so fragrant?

On the one hand, lard itself is an animal fat and has a unique flavor[1].

The fatty acid composition of lard is different from that of peanut oil and olive oil. The content of stearic acid, oleic acid and palmitic acid in lard fatty acids is relatively high. It also produces many aromatic substances such as aldehydes, furans, ketones, hydrocarbons, etc. For people who often eat vegetable oils, the fresh smell will also make people feel fragrant.

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On the other hand, more importantly, it is due to the effect of the " Maillard reaction ".

Those who have boiled lard should have an impression that lard is made by boiling pork (mainly fat) to extract the fat. During the high-temperature boiling process, the carbonyl compounds in the lard will react with amino acids (proteins) and other substances to produce a very common reaction - the Maillard reaction.

The advantage of the Maillard reaction is that it produces many aromatic substances, including reduced ketones, aldehydes and heterocyclic compounds.

In addition, fat oxidation reactions caused by high temperature will also produce some aromatic substances.

It has been discovered that lard contains 70 aroma components, including sulfides, pyrazines and aldehydes, which together constitute the aroma of lard[2].

Moreover, due to the high temperature, these aromatic substances become less volatile and will remain in the lard in a low-key manner. We can only smell them when the temperature rises. Therefore, cooking with lard is so fragrant that many people linger.

In fact, the aroma of lard will be different if it comes from different parts, is cooked using different methods, and has different water addition ratios.

For example, some people think that back fat has a stronger aroma, while lard and fat have a stronger burnt smell[3]; others think that lard made from a 1:4 ratio of pig fat to lard is better than a 2:3 ratio[4]. Therefore, the taste of lard in each person’s memory will be different.

What is the nutritional value of lard?

Lard is fragrant and makes delicious dishes, but what is the nutritional value of lard?

In fact, as a kind of fat, lard also has its nutritional value. Similar to other fats, the main nutritional function of lard is to provide us with fat and fat-soluble vitamins.

From a nutritional analysis perspective, the largest component of 100 grams of lard is fat, which is 88.7 grams, and there is about 4 grams of water. It is rich in fat-soluble vitamins, including 89ug RAE of vitamin A, 21.83mg of vitamin E, and of course 110mg of cholesterol. In addition, the mineral content in lard is relatively small, such as only 0.8mg of zinc and 0.05mg of copper[5].

Compared with peanut oil and rapeseed oil commonly used for cooking, lard has more saturated fatty acids, so it is a semi-solid paste at room temperature; when cooking with it, it can also be solid at room temperature and hidden in the food, unlike adding a lot of vegetable oil, which will seep out at room temperature, making you eat very delicate but not too greasy. In addition, saturated fat has better thermal stability, so lard is more suitable for high-temperature cooking such as frying.

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So, should we eat lard? In fact, proper fat is equally important to the body.

You know, our human body also needs some fat to synthesize important substances needed by the human body, such as prostaglandins, cholesterol, and some sex hormones ; in addition, fat can also protect the skin, form tissue cells , etc.

From a nutritional perspective, the functions of fats include↓

1. Provide essential fatty acids: There is a class of unsaturated fatty acids that are necessary for the human body to regulate physiological functions, but the human body cannot synthesize it by itself and must be taken in from the diet. They are called "essential fatty acids" (EFA), including linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid.

2. Promote the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins: such as vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K. They are insoluble in water but soluble in oil. They need oil as a carrier to be digested and absorbed by the human body.

3. Constituents of body tissues and protective components: Some fat is a component of human tissues and cells; some fat is distributed in the subcutaneous tissue, mesentery, kidneys and intermuscular connective tissue, playing a role in supporting and protecting organs.

4. Provide calories: Dietary fat is an important source of calories for the human body.

Therefore, fats and oils are also good for the human body, and lard is no exception.

In the past when materials were scarce, lard was a good source of energy and nutrition.

Decades ago, people preferred fatty pork to lean pork because fatty pork could be used to make lard. At that time, Shanghai people liked to eat a kind of "lard vegetable rice", which was made by stir-frying vegetables with lard until half-cooked, then mixing it with rice and cooking it in a rice cooker.

Moreover, the more sophisticated city dwellers have the habit of adding a little cooked lard to their rice bowls to enhance the flavor of the rice.[6]

Lard is good for protecting cardiovascular system.

Or does it damage the cardiovascular system?

In fact, judging from the current research results in the nutrition community, eating too much lard can cause greater damage to the cardiovascular system.

First of all, a large part of the fat in lard is saturated fat, accounting for more than 40%. A large number of studies have found that excessive intake of saturated fat will increase triglycerides and low-density cholesterol (bad cholesterol), increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Currently, both the Chinese [7] and American dietary guidelines [8], the World Health Organization, the American Heart Association [9] and many other cardiovascular-related guidelines and expert consensus [10-14] all recommend that people should limit their intake of saturated fat. Currently, it is generally recommended that the calories provided by saturated fat should not exceed 10% of the total daily calories.

Secondly, eating too much lard and excessive total fat intake will increase the risk of obesity and is not conducive to cardiovascular health.

Generally speaking, it is best if the energy provided by the fat we eat every day accounts for about 25% of the total energy required by the body. If the energy supply ratio of fat reaches more than 30%, it is easy to suffer from a variety of chronic diseases, the most common of which is cardiovascular disease.

Therefore, from a health perspective, we should still eat less foods rich in saturated fat, including not only lard, but also butter, palm oil, etc.

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As for the claims that "lard can detoxify and remove toxins from puffer fish and other marine fish" and "eating lard can prevent cancer", these are all fabricated without any evidence. People should not eat and drink indiscriminately because of superstition.

How to eat lard healthily?

Although eating too much lard is not good, lard is indeed fragrant.

The key to a healthy diet is to have a reasonable combination. You don’t need to completely reject many delicious foods just because you are worried about unhealthy food. It is recommended that you try to do the following when eating lard:

1. Pay attention to the right amount

Considering only the cooking oil used for cooking, it is recommended that you limit your intake to no more than 25-30 grams per day.

The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2022" recommends that adults consume no more than 25-30 grams of cooking oil per day ; the "Oil Reduction Promotion" of the National Health Commission's Disease Control Bureau advocates that healthy adults consume no more than 25 grams of cooking oil per day. Therefore, for healthy adults, it is best to consume no more than 25 grams of cooking oil per day, at least no more than 30 grams.

If you have braised pork, braised spareribs, pork elbows and other meat dishes today, you might as well use vegetable oil as much as possible. If you use lard to stir-fry vegetables and eat rice, you might as well eat more vegetables and fruits at the same time, and do more exercise after the meal.

2. Pay attention to the oil temperature, don't wait until it smokes before cooking

If you use vegetable oil, it is easy to undergo more oxidation, hydrolysis, polymerization and other reactions at high temperatures, which will lead to the loss of some vitamins and the generation of a lot of peroxides, which is not good for health. Even if it is lard, try not to let the oil smoke a lot, which is also easy to produce a lot of harmful peroxides.

3. Change oil frequently

Although lard is fragrant, you should not eat the same kind all the time. It is recommended that you eat different oils in your daily life. You can buy some other oils at home. The more recommended ones are peanut oil, corn oil, olive oil and rapeseed oil, which are suitable for common household usage scenarios and can basically meet daily household use.

4. Patients with cardiovascular disease should use less lard

There is generally no problem for normal people to eat some lard, but patients with cardiovascular diseases should try to eat less or no lard.

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in conclusion

Fats are good for the human body, and lard is no exception. However, eating too much lard will increase the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Patients with cardiovascular disease should use less lard. As for the claims that "lard can detoxify and remove toxins from puffer fish and other marine fish" and "eating lard can prevent cancer", they are all fabricated without evidence.

References:

[1] SH.CHULUUNCHIMEG. Analysis of components that form animal fat flavor[D]. Tianjin University of Science and Technology, 2014.

[2] Zou Jiankai. Analysis of volatile oil components in lard by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry[J]. Analytical Chemistry, 2002, 30(4):512. DOI:10.3321/j.issn:0253-3820.2002.04.039.

[3] Pan Kailin, Zhu Dandan. Comparison of quality characteristics of lard from different parts[J]. Food Science and Technology, 2016, 41(12): 82-86. DOI: 10.13684/j.cnki.spkj.2016.12.018.

[4] Shi Yajing, Ge Liufeng. Effects of different production processes on the physicochemical and flavor qualities of lard[J]. Meat Research, 2020, 34(4): 40-45. DOI: 10.7506/rlyj1001-8123-20191231-315.

[5] Yang Yuexin, ed. Standard Edition of Food Composition Tables for China. 6th edition, Volume 2.

[6] Shui Bushe. A comprehensive look at “Lard Rice with Vegetables”: A discussion of the folk flavor of old Shanghai[J]. Modern Industry and Commerce, 2019(2):88-89.

[7] Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents 2022

[8] Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025.

doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000510. Epub 2017 Jun 15. Erratum in: Circulation. 2017 Sep 5;136(10):e195. PMID: 28620111.

[10] Chinese Society of Cardiology, Chinese Society of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chinese Society of Cardiology, Chinese Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics, etc. Chinese Guidelines for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases[J]. Chinese Journal of Cardiology, 2020, 48(12): 1000-1038.

[11] Chinese Preventive Medicine Association, Chinese Preventive Medicine Association Heart Disease Prevention and Control Committee, Chinese Medical Association Diabetes Branch, et al. Chinese Guidelines for Healthy Lifestyle to Prevent Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases[J]. Chinese Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2020, 54(3): 256-277.

[12] Wang Zengwu. Interpretation of the 2019 ACC/AHA Guidelines for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease[J]. Chinese Journal of Circulation, 2019, 34(z1):82-85.

[13]Arnett DK, Blumenthal RS, Albert MA, et al. 2019 ACC/AHA guideline on the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association task force on clinical practice guidelines[J]. Circulation, 2019, 140(11): e596-e646.

[14] 2021 ESC Guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice. European Heart Journal (2021) 42, 3227- 3337

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