In March, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr claimed that beef tallow, an animal fat, is healthier than its plant-based alternative, seed oils. Kennedy said the US wants food companies to “switch traditional ingredients for beef tallow”. Some, like Steak ’n Shake and Sweetgreen, have already done so.

Beef tallow, also known as “beef dripping”, is made by removing, simmering, then cooling the fatty tissue that surrounds cows’ organs. American fast-food restaurants used it to deep fry foods like potatoes until the 1990s, when they switched to seed oils. Today, it can be found in soaps, candles and skin care.

Last year, Kennedy posted on X that “it’s time to Make Frying Oil Tallow Again,” adding that seed oils “are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic”, and that Americans are “being unknowingly poisoned” by them.

But is beef tallow truly the healthier option? And is it safe or beneficial for skin? Here’s what experts say.

Is beef tallow healthy?

There are no known health benefits to consuming beef tallow, says Christopher Gardner, a nutrition scientist and professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Beef tallow is one of the main dietary sources of saturated fat, along with butter, lard, palm oil and coconut oil, according to the American Heart Association (AHA).

Saturated fats – commonly found in burgers, tacos, desserts and cheese – are well known to increase LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol), which over time causes plaque buildup in your arteries that can lead to heart disease.

The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans say saturated fat should make up less than 10% of a person’s daily calorie intake. Yet about 70-75% of adults in the US surpass this limit. The same recommendation holds in the UK, where about 80% of the population exceed the limit, according to estimates.

Is beef tallow healthier than seed oils?

No. Several studies show that diets higher in saturated fats like beef tallow and lower in unsaturated fats like seed oils are associated with worse health outcomes, says Alice Lichtenstein, professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University.

A 2017 review by the AHA concluded that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease events by 30%, which is similar to the effect of cholesterol-lowering medications. Observational studies have also found this kind of diet is associated with lower rates of other major causes of death.

A study published last month found that substituting butter, AKA saturated fat, with plant-based oils helps prevent premature death from cancer and heart disease.

Incorrect claims about the inflammatory effects of seed oils have spread for years, but Gardner says they are the result of misinterpretation.

Seed oils are higher in omega-6 fatty acids and lower in omega-3s, both of which are polyunsaturated fats the body uses to lower bad cholesterol. In lab and animal studies, the former appear to cause more inflammation than the latter, says Lichtenstein. However, studies in people have not yielded similar findings.

“Somewhere along the way, people flipped this and said omega-6 is bad and therefore seed oils are killing us,” says Gardner. “But that’s not the way it works.”

Connecting seed oils and rising obesity rates in the US is also misleading, says Gardner. Americans are consuming more ultra-processed foods, many of which contain added sugars and sodium that contribute to obesity. Many junk foods also contain seed oils, says Gardner, but that doesn’t mean they alone are to blame.

“I can almost assure you that people who eat a lot of cookies, cakes, chips and donuts made with beef tallow will not suddenly get healthier,” says Gardner.

Is beef tallow safe for your skin?

Beef tallow is technically safe for your skin, says Dr Heather Rogers, dermatologist and clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington. Some skin care companies include the ingredient in their deodorants, body butters, and lip and face balms.

Still, it isn’t necessarily worth using in skincare, says Rogers. It can smell bad (some say it has a urine-like aroma), and it also goes rancid quickly and stains your clothes, sheets and pillows, she says.

“I’ve had a number of patients and friends who used beef tallow as a ‘wonder’ treatment for their skin,” says Rogers, “but none of them have used it for long because it’s not a pleasant experience.”

In addition, Rogers says skin care companies often mix beef tallow with essential oils to make their products more appealing. “Fragrance is a very common cause of allergic reaction,” she says. “So you’re taking something that’s OK and then making it worse.”

Another caveat: chemicals accumulate in fat, so beef tallow can contain harmful substances like pesticides if the cattle it came from were exposed to them, says Rogers. If you plan to use beef tallow on your skin, use products from grass-fed or organically raised cows, she says.

Is beef tallow good for your face?

Beef tallow can prevent water loss when layered on your face, says Rogers, but it’s still not a good moisturizer. “Moisturizer by definition is a combination of oil and water,” she says. “Your skin needs both, but beef tallow is just fat, so you’re not getting any additional benefits.”

Beef tallow is also comedogenic, especially for people with oily skin, says Rogers. This means it can clog pores and cause acne – however, this hasn’t been thoroughly studied, she adds.

Beef tallow contains small amounts of vitamins D, A, K and E, says Rogers. However, it doesn’t have the vitamins that have been shown to be “most powerful for our skin”, such as vitamin C.

That said, beef tallow does have an occlusive, or sealant, effect. Like Vaseline or castor oil, it could help damaged skin from eczema or other skin conditions and injuries heal more quickly, says Rogers: “Your skin has to maintain its water levels to heal itself. When you have an open wound, all that water evaporates, the skin dries out and forms a scab.” Occlusive products can help keep that water in.

But beef tallow is “not a miracle treatment”, she says, and dermatologists don’t recommend it. “It’s not going to help with wrinkles or acne,” says Rogers. “It’s not activating any change on your skin.”

Rogers says shea butter – fat extracted from the seed of the shea tree – is a similar but more effective alternative to beef tallow for skin care. It’s less saturated, non-comedogenic, has anti-inflammatory effects and more antioxidants, which protects skin cells from damage and improves skin texture, she says.

“There are so many wonderful options out there, but to me beef tallow is an extreme,” says Rogers.

The takeaway

A single ingredient in small doses rarely has a large impact on your health, so removing or adding something like beef tallow to your diet won’t make a huge difference, says Lichtenstein. Instead, consider “the whole package”, including what you eat and don’t eat, she says, and aim for a diet that’s well balanced in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

To lower your saturated fat intake, experts recommend eating lean meat and low-fat cheese, for example, or turning to other protein sources like beans. Cook with canola, corn, olive or soybean oils instead of butter, and aim to eat sweet snacks less often.

“We’re always looking for the easy answer that’s going to make everything better, like we can have our cake and eat it too. But making your cake with beef tallow isn’t going to improve it,” says Lichtenstein. “The best bulk of the evidence indicates that’s not going to have a positive effect, and for many people, it will have a negative one.”