Confusion with saturated fat

[guitaramole]

Is saturated fat bad or even good for you? I don't think there would be any reason to not be vegan if saturated fat was good in moderation, since I could eat coconut for it.

Is saturated fat good for brain health? That's my main concern since I have a family history of dementia.

[brimstoneSalad]

The only fats you need to consume are essential fatty acids, or EFAs. These are all unsaturated fats, specifically polyunsaturated fatty acids. Omega 3 and Omega 6.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_fatty_acid

Essential fatty acids, or EFAs, are fatty acids that humans and other animals must ingest because the body requires them for good health but cannot synthesize them.[1]

The term "essential fatty acid" refers to fatty acids required for biological processes but does not include the fats that only act as fuel. Essential fatty acids should not be confused with essential oils, which are "essential" in the sense of being a concentrated essence.

Only two fatty acids are known to be essential for humans: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid).[2] Some other fatty acids are sometimes classified as "conditionally essential," meaning that they can become essential under some developmental or disease conditions; examples include docosahexaenoic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and gamma-linolenic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid).

You need Omega 3, and Omega 6. The human body has no need for saturated fats, or any other fat. However, some other non-saturated fats can be healthy (like monounsaturated fat). There's a lot of pseudoscience floating around that claims otherwise: it mainly comes from the paleo and anti-vegan contingencies.

Of course, it doesn't make sense to claim that saturated fats are necessary in order to discredit veganism, because a vegan could easily eat coconut oil if they were. The main goal of claiming they're important seems to be as an apologia for animal products, which are high in saturated fat. This is mainly related to the saturated fat and heart disease denialism.

Wikipedia has a good article on Cholesterol Skeptics here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_International_Network_of_Cholesterol_Skeptics

Since the 1950s, the lipid hypothesis (also known as the "Diet-Heart Idea"), which posits that saturated fat and high cholesterol play a role in the causation of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, has gained general acceptance in the medical and scientific communities. Currently, there is scientific consensus that the lipid hypothesis has been validated.[1][2][3]

For example, in 1984, a National Institutes of Health consensus development conference found that:

It has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that lowering definitely elevated blood cholesterol levels (specifically, blood levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol) will reduce the risk of heart attacks caused by coronary heart disease.[3]

The success of cholesterol-lowering medication such as statins in preventing heart attacks has been seen as further validation of the lipid hypothesis.[1]

It's an absurd anti-science conspiracy theory. Scientific consensus on saturated fat and cholesterol is very clear and uncontroversial. Only dishonest yellow journalism makes it seem otherwise.

Saturated fat: unhealthy and unnecessary
Monounsaturated fat: probably healthy, but unnecessary.
Polyunsaturated fat: healthy, and necessary.

You can get good omega 3 from walnuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds, canola oil, and flax seeds (if they're fresh, although I usually recommend walnuts or canola oil instead).

[guitaramole]

Thanks. I was confused because of the vast information on nutritional science, and I dont have the skills to determine what science is valid.