Why is coconut and palm oil saturated just like animal fats?
All fats, plant or animal, contain both unsaturated and saturated fats. Even olive oil has saturated fats, and even lard has unsaturated fats. Only the relative proportions differ, and there are various types of fatty acids as well. Tropical oils evolved to be mostly saturated because of the climate. Cell membranes are made of fatty acids and need to be flexible without liquefying. For the same reason, oils from temperate crops are largely unsaturated. As for whether they are bad or not, traditional medical opinion is that they are, but there are sources which claim otherwise. I personally don’t know who is right. I eat coconut oil every now and then because I like its taste and I have no intention of cutting it out. It is very well suited to frying because of its heat stability, just like peanut oil. FYI, the major fatty acid in coconut is myristic acid (in addition to lauric acid), and in palm oil, palmitic acid. Beef and dairy contain mainly stearic acid, and this difference is ofte
