The important thing to understand is that all fats are basically mixtures of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acids in different proportions. There isn’t any real evidence that everyone needs to consume exactly they same balance of fatty acids, except that we do know that people need to take in at least 2-3% of their fat as the omega-6 fatty acids and at least 1-1.5% of their fat as omega-3 fatty acids. This means that small people on fewer calories need less than larger or more active people who consume more calories.
The fats that humans have consumed for millennia, such as the fats that they added to mixed dishes, were almost always more saturated than they were unsaturated. It was the easily extractable fat or oil, the fat that came from the animal, or, in the case of areas such as the tropics, it was the oil that came from the coconut or the palm fruit that was used in cooking. Sometimes it was one of the very stable oils like olive oil (or sesame paste) that had a lot of built-in antioxidant and wasn’t too polyunsaturated.
People didn’t really have the ability to extract oil from vegetables like corn, or from many seeds as they do today. However, they got their essential polyunsaturated fatty acids from many of these plants when they were included in the foods they were eating. People used the intact leaf, root, nut, grain or seed along with all its antioxidants in the stews or the porridges that most people ate. This was the way the polyunsaturates were historically consumed. The polyunsaturated fatty acids didn’t have to be hydrogenated to protect their integrity and keep them from going rancid because they were consumed in a protected whole-food state.
People on low fat diets historically consumed adequate amounts of essential fatty acids from such foods as grains, vegetables and nuts; and then they made their own saturated fat for the necessary adipose and energy storage. Those people with higher fat intakes in their diets still had about the same amount of essential fatty acids, and ultimately the same amount of saturated fat for storage or as the energy source. Regardless of whether they ate it or made it, the fat in the tissues of our ancestors was relatively saturated and therefore the fatty acid supply to the tissues was predictably saturated. Today with the high levels of partially hydrogenated vegetable and marine oils in the diets of many people, the tissues and organs are faced with a new situation and many researchers have concluded that the presence of the trans fatty acids is causing shifts in favor of chronic disease.
The bottom line is to consume as many whole foods and whole food mixtures as possible. Since we live in a society where other people prepare most of the foods many of us eat, it is important to look for the least processed and the least likely to go rancid when it comes to fats and oils. There is nothing wrong with consuming your essential fatty acids from oils as long as those oils are safely extracted and carefully stored, but a good balance needs to be maintained with sources of the more saturated fats such as the animal tallows and/or dairy fats for those who are not vegetarians or the more saturated fats such as palm or coconut oils for those who are vegetarians.
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