You Should Probably Stop Eating Seed Oils

Welcome back! I took a hiatus last week as a result of Thanksgiving (the real one, not the fake one that’s a month late).

This week’s article is about the potential damage behind the introduction of seed oils and why food companies are not your friend.

It should be noted that ALL of these observations are correlations and not necessarily causations, further research is still needed to prove the hypotheses.

This is a complex set of interactions within the body so here is the “Explain it Like I’m 5” version:

• Seed oils are high in Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)

• PUFAs oxidize quickly within the human body leading to high levels of oxidative stress and toxic byproducts

• Oxidative stress leads to chronic inflammation

• Chronic inflammation is linked to nearly every major known disease including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, Crohn’s and asthma

• Linoleic Acid — the worst PUFA — is associated with increased depressive symptoms

How did we get into this problem?

Quick history:

• 1829, Cottonseed oil emerges as a machine lubricant

• 1888, Corn oil becomes the first vegetable oil marketed for human consumption

• 1911, Crisco popularizes crystallized cottonseed oil for human consumption

• 1912, The first known accurately described account of a heart attack is published in a medical journal

• 1945, the American Heart Association receives $1.7M in funding from Procter & Gamble, the makers of Crisco, after years of struggling for funding

• 1955, President Eisenhower suffers a heart attack from atherosclerosis that was linked to high LDL or bad cholesterol

• 1961, the American Heart Association recommends switching from saturated fats (animal fats), to unsaturated fats on the basis that saturated fats cause an increase in LDL cholesterol in most people despite no evidence of heart attacks correlating with saturated fat consumption

Some additional facts:

1. Linoleic Acid (primary PUFA in Soybean, Cottonseed, Corn and Sunflower Oil) is 40x more susceptible to oxidation than Oleic Acid (primary fatty acid in Olive Oil)

2. These oils are referred to as RBD oils (refined, bleached, deodorized) because in their natural state they would taste extremely bitter or rancid

3. The Israeli Paradox, Israeli people have a higher prevalence of heart disease despite consuming 8-10% more of these “healthier” seed oils than Americans

What is the alternative?

• Avoid oils and fats high in Linoleic Acid (Soybean, Cottonseed, Corn, Grapeseed and Sunflower)

• Increase intake of animal fats like tallow and butter which contain essential nutrients not found in vegetable oils

• If you are opposed to animal fats, Olive Oil and Coconut Oil are neutral oils with better ratios of fatty acids

Next time you go grocery shopping, look at the ingredients in your food, almost all processed food is likely to contain soybean (vegetable) or sunflower oil.

Why is no one talking about this?

The global oilseed market is an estimated $255 billion per year industry as of 2021. Even with dissenting voices it is hard to lobby against or conduct research that backtracks on 100 years of orthodoxy promoted by Big Food and established government institutions.

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