If you’re hooked into social media, you know that beef tallow is on the cusp of making a triumphant return. This traditional ingredient used to feature in everything from roasts to baskets of deep-fried takeaways. However, tallow’s tour de force is more about its mileage in the kitchen.
While many are arguing that seed oils should steep to the side to make space for a beefier alternative in the kitchen, others say your grooming products should, too. Fad or miracle fix? We dug through the science to see whether you should enter the tallowed halls:
What Is Beef Tallow?
Once the go-to frying medium at chip-churning venues the world over, beef tallow has taken a back seat for a slew of alternative oils. But there’s a massive movement calling for the return of tallow with plenty of top influencers espousing its general health and skincare benefits.
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But, first of all, what is beef tallow? Simply put, it’s the edible fat you’ll find underneath the skin and near the organs of a cow. Typically this substance makes up around 6% of its body weight. The tallow you’ll find at the shops, or browsing online, is created by melting down or rendering this fat.
Is Beef Tallow Good for Your Skin?
Used traditionally, you’d break it out for roasts or the aforementioned chip deepfries. But tallow’s new lease on life can largely be credited to its sudden resurgence in the world of skincare. The internet is full of testimonies of those who swapped their ensemble of grooming products for a beefier option.
The promise: because beef tallow is rich in crucial vitamins (and saturated and unsaturated fats that are found naturally in our skin), influencers claim this natural skincare alternative can help you achieve soft, even skin. Hit the brakes, however, there’s not much research that backs these bold claims.
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“This is a trend where the popularity has gotten ahead of the science,” board-certified dermatologist and clinic professor of dermatology at University of Texas Houston Rajani Katta told National Geographic. While some research has found that tallow could help hydrate the skin, there are no studies (yet) documenting the potential negative consequences.
“I tried Beef Tallow skincare for two weeks. Clogged my pores but it had its benefits. Works well for body, not face. Most people who say it worked are older people with mature skin, and it didn’t work for me as a young individual,” wrote one user in a post on Reddit.
Does Beef Tallow Have Any Health Benefits?
On the general health front, beef tallow doesn’t fair too well either. Almost half of beef tallow is saturated fat, which has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease. Various organisations actively warn against consuming it.
One review found that swapping out a minuscule amount of your daily animal-sourced saturated fats with nuts, vegetable oil and, yes, seed oil could help you slash your risk of death from heart disease by almost 15%.
What are the Benefits of Seed Oils?
This elixir comes in plenty of different varieties. From chia seeds to sunflower, you’ve got oils derived from a plethora of sources. As such, the health benefits can vary drastically from one bottle to the next.
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Chia seed oil has shown tons of promise when it comes to a health fix. One small study found that those eating around 7g of chia seeds (mixed with yoghurt) for breakfast felt more satiated, helping them reduce their overall food intake. Whether these benefits translate to the seed’s oil form isn’t certain.
Sunflower oil, a product you’ll see all over grocery store shelves, packs plenty of vitamin E, which (among other benefits) can help slow down the damage caused by ageing. Studies have found that “high oleic” sunflower oil could help increase your levels of good cholesterol.
Grapeseed oil, which has become a popular skincare staple, contains proanthocyanidins, an antioxidant that some claim could help even out your skin tone. Consuming grapeseed oil has been linked to lower blood pressure, improve kidney function and even boost your memory.
Pumpkin seed oil is also a potential heavy hitter. Besides maybe improving your heart and urinary tract health, it has also been shown to help stimulate hair growth. In one study, a group of men struggling with hair loss were asked to take 400mg of pumpkin seed oil or a placebo. Those on the pumpkin plan noted better results than those going seed-free.
