Many of those who raise concern about seed oils feel that the traditional medical approaches miss the mark and that many (most) illnesses might be prevented with better life choices.
You could cite 10,000 "scientific" studies claiming that seed oils aren't harmful and it will never override the fact that when I cut them out of my diet the post consumption, greasy gut feeling, and its attendant brain fog, vanished from my life.
If you don't think the multinational, oligarchical "food" manufacturing corporations of this world aren't funding and/or influencing these studies you're delusional. Supposed "science" doesn't trump real life experience.
The fad of hating on seed oils is but a symptom of a larger fad: deconstructionism. It’s trendy to write click-bait articles claiming to “undo what you’ve always accepted as true”. Happening all over the place, including religion, economics, government, and medicine/nutrition science.
That’s what’s happening with seed oils…same thing that comes around every few years about eggs, animal protein, alcohol, metformin, aspirin, etc. One second, a particular substance is the “best kept secret”; the next, it’s an anathema. I haven’t seen a single, reliable article citing substantial evidence against seed oils. It’s another modern deconstruction that will run its course of popularity.
Effects seem either large enough to be self-evident or small enough they are lost in a miasma of more or less useless observational data.
Accepting that seed oils *are* deleterious... What could the size of the effect be that it's taken 70 years to notice?
Avoid the Twinkies, because they are junk in general. Saute your green beans in a teaspoon of whatever oil works best for the meal, and get on with your life.
I (maybe?) envy anyone who has this as their important health challenge and has the time to make it important.
“supposed benefits of vitamin D” Accidentally discovered Vit D effects on HTN about 20 years ago, when unexpected hypotension caused me to rapidly taper off max dose triple therapy in a week. No other change to explain response. Others report more modest improvements, but we cannot negate that there is science behind Vit D. I recall one study that showed it as effective as mono therapy in HTN. Sorry that I didn’t save the link.
I think part of the problem is dismissing processed foods as 'junk'. They are not. They are extremely calorie dense foods that should be treated with respect. Bu because they are cheap, we consume them like crazy.
Genetically Modified corn, sunflower, soybean, and other seed oils that have been POISONED with the PESTICIDES by the Criminal Cabal at Monsanto/ Bayer are the most UNHEALTHY COOKING OILS for Human Consumption! Organic Olive Oil and Avocado Oils are the ONLY oils used in our household! Stay healthy my friends! Stop eating ULTRA PROCESSED Genetically Modified Foods, which the Globalist Cabal now calls “Bioengineered” foods! Read the ingredients before purchasing these Ultra Processed Foods & Seed Oils that come with your very own Death Certificate included them!
Surely the way seed oils are produced makes ghem ultra processed?
The seeds are heated to cery high temperatures and then treated with various chemicals. By the time we eat them they are rancid. I would rather fresh animal fat.
I highly recommend Dr. Catherine Shanahan's excellent book, Dark Calories. “Dr. Shanahan offers a compelling and eye-opening exploration into the harmful impacts of vegetable oils on our health… this rigorous analysis is both brave and necessary," said David Perlmutter, MD. I found her data and arguments to be extremely well-researched, impeccably cited, and meticulously explained. Yes, she does use the term, "Hateful Eight". And yes, people should actually read her book in its entirety to truly understand her compelling arguments. It completely changed my thinking on nutrition and disease prevention.
Ya but do you remember the McDonalds fries from the 1980's? mmmm'mmmm tasty - that alone is a good reason to toss out what ever fryer seed oil they use today. You can't make Yorkshire pudding with vegetable oil...if you do, turn in your apron right now
The problematic nutrient in seed oils is linoleic acid. The insidious thing about consuming linoleic acid-rich seed oils is that it takes a long time to notice the consequences. Moreover, the damage is so diverse that it is difficult to link cause to effect. For example, I ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch for several decades before I noticed my varicose vein problem. One fateful day in March 1995 I bumped my shin on a saw horse. The small wound progressed to a venus ulcer that persisted for months. Mid summer, I read a book entitled "Health Preserver Defining the Versatility of Vitamin E." The author explained how the linolec acid in salad dressings and mayonnaise causes vascular damage. He recommended ingestiing E and applying it topically. The wound began to heal almost immediately, eventually filling in with granulated tissue. Within two days I was able to go to sleep without takiing aspirin. Everything seemed to be OK until I began to experience leg pains and loss of mobility about a decade later. Fortunately, in 2009 when I heard National Institutes of Health scientist William Lands say, "Did you know that peanuts have 4,000 milligrams of omega-6 in each 28-gram, one ounce serving of peanuts, and one milligram of omega-3?", I realized my mistake. I swapped the peanut butter for 99% fat-free Hilshire Farms thin-sliced turkey meat. The pain in my legs subsided and I regained considerable strength and stamina. However,after a few years an new set of symptoms emerged; 25 pounds weight gain in winter when I was less active, shoulder pain, chronic winter cough, and some of the worst colds I've ever had in my life. Fortunately, in 2016 I read a BMJ article that said, "We now know that major changes have taken place in the food supply over the last 100 years, when food technology and modern agriculture led to enormous production of vegetable oils high in ω-6 fatty acids, and changed animal feeds from grass to grains, thus increasing the amount of ω-6 fatty acids at the level of linoleic acid (LA) (from oils) and arachidonic acid (AA) (from meat, eggs, dairy)." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5093368/
Swapping the turkey for cheese alleviated the new symptoms. I'm currently weight stable and resistant to viral infections.
Unfortuntely, those years of excessive arachidonic acid intake seems to have damaged my joints. Ironically, excessive linoleic acid intake can prevent arthritis, insulin resistance and heart disease. Norwegian animal science researchers have identified the mechanism of action. "Because arachidonic acid (AA) competes with EPA and DHA as well as with LA, ALA and oleic acid for incorporation in membrane lipids at the same positions, all these fatty acids are important for controlling the AA concentration in membrane lipids, which in turn determines how much AA can be liberated and become available for prostaglandin biosynthesis following phospholipase activation. Thus, the best strategy for dampening prostanoid overproduction in disease situations would be to reduce the intake of AA, or reduce the intake of AA at the same time as the total intake of competing fatty acids (including oleic acid) is enhanced, rather than enhancing intakes of EPA and DHA only. Enhancement of membrane concentrations of EPA and DHA will not be as efficient as a similar decrease in the AA concentration for avoiding prostanoid overproduction. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2875212/
On the downside: "Fatty acid composition in the Western diet has shifted from saturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and specifically to linoleic acid (LA, 18:2), which has gradually increased in the diet over the past 50 y to become the most abundant dietary fatty acid in human adipose tissue." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9060469/
If scientists would pay attention to the above action of linoleic acid in cell membranes, they likely would be able to resolve this controversy.
"Linoleic acid (LA), as a part of the wider debate about saturated, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) and health, continues to be at the center of controversy in the world of fatty acid research. A robust evidence base, however, demonstrates that higher intakes and blood levels of LA are associated with improved cardiometabolic health outcomes. LA lowers total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol when compared with saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates. Using large prospective datasets, higher blood levels of LA were associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and incident type-2 diabetes mellitus compared with lower levels, suggesting that, across the range of typical dietary intakes, higher LA is beneficial." https://lipidworld.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12944-024-02246-2
Note that the so-called 'robust evidence base" consists of associations. Also, the associations are only valid "across the range of typical dietary intakes" which happen to be considerably higher at the lower end than typical linoleic acid intakes prior to the advent of industrial seed oils. Consequently, these conclusions are based on an incomplete data set. To establish certainty requires experiment. And, to be sure, science is all about certaiinty. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11307-009-0233-0
Life expectancy at birth in colonial America between 1700 and 1775 was 35 years (today, for men born in the U.S. in 2018, it is 78 years; for women, 82). But since life expectancy is defined as the number of years that an individual of a given age may expect to live, once the colonial American reached 21, odds favored his living another 20 years. And the longer he lived, the better his chance of living to a ripe old age.
Nevertheless, in 1775, a mere 2 percent of the populace was over 65. Yet an amazing number of Founding Fathers, all born in the perilous 18th century, achieved a longevity far beyond the average. Our first 10 presidents lived an average of 77.4 years.
Some might argue that the Founders must have had long-lived ancestors (some did, but most did not), a privileged background (fewer than half did), or superior medical care (it did not exist for anyone, rich or poor). https://www.almanac.com/how-live-longer-life
This is great! Thank you for the comprehensive take and review of seed oils. It appears that they have suffered from "guilt by association." Though, must admit, I still enjoy potato chips...but they are fried in avocado oil :)
Thank you
You could cite 10,000 "scientific" studies claiming that seed oils aren't harmful and it will never override the fact that when I cut them out of my diet the post consumption, greasy gut feeling, and its attendant brain fog, vanished from my life.
If you don't think the multinational, oligarchical "food" manufacturing corporations of this world aren't funding and/or influencing these studies you're delusional. Supposed "science" doesn't trump real life experience.
The fad of hating on seed oils is but a symptom of a larger fad: deconstructionism. It’s trendy to write click-bait articles claiming to “undo what you’ve always accepted as true”. Happening all over the place, including religion, economics, government, and medicine/nutrition science.
That’s what’s happening with seed oils…same thing that comes around every few years about eggs, animal protein, alcohol, metformin, aspirin, etc. One second, a particular substance is the “best kept secret”; the next, it’s an anathema. I haven’t seen a single, reliable article citing substantial evidence against seed oils. It’s another modern deconstruction that will run its course of popularity.
Go read some of tucker Goodrich work, you may want to rethink your stance
Nutritional epidemiology is nightmare.
Effects seem either large enough to be self-evident or small enough they are lost in a miasma of more or less useless observational data.
Accepting that seed oils *are* deleterious... What could the size of the effect be that it's taken 70 years to notice?
Avoid the Twinkies, because they are junk in general. Saute your green beans in a teaspoon of whatever oil works best for the meal, and get on with your life.
I (maybe?) envy anyone who has this as their important health challenge and has the time to make it important.
Look up dr Patricia Kane. She'll give you a good lesson on cell membrane and the need for omega 6.
“supposed benefits of vitamin D” Accidentally discovered Vit D effects on HTN about 20 years ago, when unexpected hypotension caused me to rapidly taper off max dose triple therapy in a week. No other change to explain response. Others report more modest improvements, but we cannot negate that there is science behind Vit D. I recall one study that showed it as effective as mono therapy in HTN. Sorry that I didn’t save the link.
I think part of the problem is dismissing processed foods as 'junk'. They are not. They are extremely calorie dense foods that should be treated with respect. Bu because they are cheap, we consume them like crazy.
Genetically Modified corn, sunflower, soybean, and other seed oils that have been POISONED with the PESTICIDES by the Criminal Cabal at Monsanto/ Bayer are the most UNHEALTHY COOKING OILS for Human Consumption! Organic Olive Oil and Avocado Oils are the ONLY oils used in our household! Stay healthy my friends! Stop eating ULTRA PROCESSED Genetically Modified Foods, which the Globalist Cabal now calls “Bioengineered” foods! Read the ingredients before purchasing these Ultra Processed Foods & Seed Oils that come with your very own Death Certificate included them!
Surely the way seed oils are produced makes ghem ultra processed?
The seeds are heated to cery high temperatures and then treated with various chemicals. By the time we eat them they are rancid. I would rather fresh animal fat.
The counter arguments in this thread rely on the same methods frequently criticized by Dr. Prasad.
- Ad hominem against the author.
- Anecdotal stories from individual to historical that conclude correlation without evidence of causation.
- Non-human studies extrapolated to human outcomes.
- Biomarker outcomes extrapolated to meaningful human outcomes such as mortality or morbidity.
- Ultimately, no RCTs showing that seed oils led to worse outcomes in mortality or morbidity.
It's like they never read the article.
I highly recommend Dr. Catherine Shanahan's excellent book, Dark Calories. “Dr. Shanahan offers a compelling and eye-opening exploration into the harmful impacts of vegetable oils on our health… this rigorous analysis is both brave and necessary," said David Perlmutter, MD. I found her data and arguments to be extremely well-researched, impeccably cited, and meticulously explained. Yes, she does use the term, "Hateful Eight". And yes, people should actually read her book in its entirety to truly understand her compelling arguments. It completely changed my thinking on nutrition and disease prevention.
Ya but do you remember the McDonalds fries from the 1980's? mmmm'mmmm tasty - that alone is a good reason to toss out what ever fryer seed oil they use today. You can't make Yorkshire pudding with vegetable oil...if you do, turn in your apron right now
The problematic nutrient in seed oils is linoleic acid. The insidious thing about consuming linoleic acid-rich seed oils is that it takes a long time to notice the consequences. Moreover, the damage is so diverse that it is difficult to link cause to effect. For example, I ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch for several decades before I noticed my varicose vein problem. One fateful day in March 1995 I bumped my shin on a saw horse. The small wound progressed to a venus ulcer that persisted for months. Mid summer, I read a book entitled "Health Preserver Defining the Versatility of Vitamin E." The author explained how the linolec acid in salad dressings and mayonnaise causes vascular damage. He recommended ingestiing E and applying it topically. The wound began to heal almost immediately, eventually filling in with granulated tissue. Within two days I was able to go to sleep without takiing aspirin. Everything seemed to be OK until I began to experience leg pains and loss of mobility about a decade later. Fortunately, in 2009 when I heard National Institutes of Health scientist William Lands say, "Did you know that peanuts have 4,000 milligrams of omega-6 in each 28-gram, one ounce serving of peanuts, and one milligram of omega-3?", I realized my mistake. I swapped the peanut butter for 99% fat-free Hilshire Farms thin-sliced turkey meat. The pain in my legs subsided and I regained considerable strength and stamina. However,after a few years an new set of symptoms emerged; 25 pounds weight gain in winter when I was less active, shoulder pain, chronic winter cough, and some of the worst colds I've ever had in my life. Fortunately, in 2016 I read a BMJ article that said, "We now know that major changes have taken place in the food supply over the last 100 years, when food technology and modern agriculture led to enormous production of vegetable oils high in ω-6 fatty acids, and changed animal feeds from grass to grains, thus increasing the amount of ω-6 fatty acids at the level of linoleic acid (LA) (from oils) and arachidonic acid (AA) (from meat, eggs, dairy)." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5093368/
Swapping the turkey for cheese alleviated the new symptoms. I'm currently weight stable and resistant to viral infections.
Unfortuntely, those years of excessive arachidonic acid intake seems to have damaged my joints. Ironically, excessive linoleic acid intake can prevent arthritis, insulin resistance and heart disease. Norwegian animal science researchers have identified the mechanism of action. "Because arachidonic acid (AA) competes with EPA and DHA as well as with LA, ALA and oleic acid for incorporation in membrane lipids at the same positions, all these fatty acids are important for controlling the AA concentration in membrane lipids, which in turn determines how much AA can be liberated and become available for prostaglandin biosynthesis following phospholipase activation. Thus, the best strategy for dampening prostanoid overproduction in disease situations would be to reduce the intake of AA, or reduce the intake of AA at the same time as the total intake of competing fatty acids (including oleic acid) is enhanced, rather than enhancing intakes of EPA and DHA only. Enhancement of membrane concentrations of EPA and DHA will not be as efficient as a similar decrease in the AA concentration for avoiding prostanoid overproduction. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2875212/
Linoleic acid is one of the unsaturated fatty acids that can dampen prostanoid overproduction. Note that saturated fats are not mentioned. Clearly, high circulating levels of unsaturated fatty acids tend to counter the deliterious effects of excessive arachidonic acid intake. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news-archive/2019/study-reveals-surprising-link-between-linoleic-acid-and-occurrence-of-rheumatoid-arthritis
On the downside: "Fatty acid composition in the Western diet has shifted from saturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and specifically to linoleic acid (LA, 18:2), which has gradually increased in the diet over the past 50 y to become the most abundant dietary fatty acid in human adipose tissue." https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9060469/
So, excessive linoleic acid can make one vulnerable to infectious disease complications. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7846167/
If scientists would pay attention to the above action of linoleic acid in cell membranes, they likely would be able to resolve this controversy.
"Linoleic acid (LA), as a part of the wider debate about saturated, omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids (FAs) and health, continues to be at the center of controversy in the world of fatty acid research. A robust evidence base, however, demonstrates that higher intakes and blood levels of LA are associated with improved cardiometabolic health outcomes. LA lowers total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol when compared with saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates. Using large prospective datasets, higher blood levels of LA were associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease, stroke and incident type-2 diabetes mellitus compared with lower levels, suggesting that, across the range of typical dietary intakes, higher LA is beneficial." https://lipidworld.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12944-024-02246-2
Note that the so-called 'robust evidence base" consists of associations. Also, the associations are only valid "across the range of typical dietary intakes" which happen to be considerably higher at the lower end than typical linoleic acid intakes prior to the advent of industrial seed oils. Consequently, these conclusions are based on an incomplete data set. To establish certainty requires experiment. And, to be sure, science is all about certaiinty. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11307-009-0233-0
Life expectancy at birth in colonial America between 1700 and 1775 was 35 years (today, for men born in the U.S. in 2018, it is 78 years; for women, 82). But since life expectancy is defined as the number of years that an individual of a given age may expect to live, once the colonial American reached 21, odds favored his living another 20 years. And the longer he lived, the better his chance of living to a ripe old age.
Nevertheless, in 1775, a mere 2 percent of the populace was over 65. Yet an amazing number of Founding Fathers, all born in the perilous 18th century, achieved a longevity far beyond the average. Our first 10 presidents lived an average of 77.4 years.
Some might argue that the Founders must have had long-lived ancestors (some did, but most did not), a privileged background (fewer than half did), or superior medical care (it did not exist for anyone, rich or poor). https://www.almanac.com/how-live-longer-life
This is great! Thank you for the comprehensive take and review of seed oils. It appears that they have suffered from "guilt by association." Though, must admit, I still enjoy potato chips...but they are fried in avocado oil :)