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[Jerry B <liberty AT kaballero.com>]

I wrote:
> > Still I think it is helpful
> > to understand that highly heated oils, refined or not, and even whole
> > grain breads baked at 350-400 degrees produce substances that are toxic
> > and can eventually lead to any number of ailments.
> >     
>
> Does that go for Lard, also?
>
> Rob
> _
I didn't know very much about lard, only swearing off vegetable 
shortening Crisco for years knowing it was hydrogenated, a process now 
considered deadly ( see trans fats).  Crisco of course is not lard.  
Most commercial sources of lard are hydrogenated for added shelf life, 
with different health effects than lard rendered straight off the hog.  
Since you are raising pigs, you probably will appreciate this well 
written article I  goggled.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food.

So lard apparently has gotten an undeserved bad rap the last thirty 
years or so. Lard has less saturated fats than even butter, and a higher 
smoking point than vegetable oils.

Heated vegetable oils are apparently far worse than heated animal fats.

"The purpose of this report is to alert the foodservice industry, 
particularly the fast-food industry, of an emerging health issue. 
Considerable evidence has accumulated over the past two decades that 
heated cooking oils, especially polyunsaturated oils, may pose several 
types of health risks to consumers of fried foods and even people 
working near deep fat fryers. Heat degrades polyunsaturated fatty acids 
to toxic compounds; saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids are 
resistant to heat-induced degradation. Several types of diseases may be 
related to the exposure of humans to food- or air-borne breakdown 
products of heated oils including atherosclerosis, the forerunner to 
cardiovascular disease; inflammatory joint disease, including rheumatoid 
arthritis; pathogenic conditions of the digestive tract; mutagenicity 
and genotoxicity, properties that often signal carcinogenesis; and 
teratogenicity, the property of chemicals that leads to the development 
of birth defects. Factors that can contribute to improved oil stability, 
and therefore fewer health concerns, are briefly discussed. The 
literature reviewed raises serious questions concerning the willful 
addition of large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids into the human 
diet without accompanying measures to ensure the protection of these 
fatty acids against heat- and oxidative-degradation. It is hoped that 
this review will stimulate interest in the foodservice industry in this 
important area of potential health concern, and also foster the research 
and development activities necessary to reduce the exposure of humans to 
lipid oxidation products."

Given only these considerations, it would seem fresh unhydrogenated lard 
is at least a relatively healthy food to eat.  jerry b