# The fat plant

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677 "2000-07-05T22:04:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aceospades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Aceospades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aceospades)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/1 "2000-07-05T22:04:39Z")

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Another bottle of port wine rides on this. I recall somewhere in my past that I heard that avocado’s are the only plant that have saturated fat. my mom says that that’s just not true. can any dopers help me out here?

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**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/2 "2000-07-05T22:37:25Z")

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Sorry, check oot: [http://www.thriveonline.com/eats/experts/joan/joan.08-07-98.html](http://www.thriveonline.com/eats/experts/joan/joan.08-07-98.html)

"Coconut oil and palm oil also have high levels of  
saturated fat. "

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/3 "2000-07-06T01:51:16Z")

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Since were talking about the seed and seed (fruit) cover portion of the plant (ie avacado) wouldn’t any tree/bush etc producing an oily nut like a brazil nut or a cashew nut also be in the category of a plant whose fruit/seed is full of saturated fat.

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**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/4 "2000-07-06T02:41:59Z")

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[Why is palm oil bad for you?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_117.html)

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**Author:** ![fierra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58956e/32.png) [@fierra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fierra)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/5 "2000-07-06T16:32:49Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by astro \*  
> \*\*Since were talking about the seed and seed (fruit) cover portion of the plant (ie avacado) wouldn’t any tree/bush etc producing an oily nut like a brazil nut or a cashew nut also be in the category of a plant whose fruit/seed is full of saturated fat. \*\*

only if they produced saturated fat as opposed to unsaturated or even polyunsaturated fat.

For example rape flowers produce pods that have oil in them. It is (mostly or all) unsaturated and so they use it to make margarine. Part ofthe process of making margarine though is to take this “good” fat & hydrogenate it which makes it saturated (or at least partially) which iirc is to help it to set. They use vanadium as a catalyst for this so all margarine eaters end up with small traces of this metal.

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**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2000, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fat-plant/24677/6 "2000-07-06T20:46:38Z")

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A bit tangential, but it’s one of my pet peeves.

Thank you, fierra, it is indeed ‘rape’, producing ‘rapeseed’ for ‘rapeseed oil’. The name comes, I think, from Italian ‘rapini’.

But the marketeers decided that name was offensive, and now we’re required to call it ‘canola’ instead.

Grumble, grumble.