The Seed Oil Trap: What Every Consumer Should Know
- purposeandjoyinthe
- Aug 6, 2024
- 10 min read
WHAT ARE SEED OILS?
As the name indicates, seed oils are oils that come from the seeds of plants. Some of the most common seed oils are:
Corn Oil
Canola (aka Rapeseed Oil)
Grapeseed Oil
Sunflower Oil
Cottonseed Oil
Safflower Oil
Soybean Oil
Ricebran Oil
All-purpose vegetable oils you will find in stores are typically a combination of some of the above seed oils, so you can also consider them when reading the information below.
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Seed oils come from the seeds of plants which sounds good, right? In a way they could be good. The biggest problem lies in how they are made, though. Just pressing these seeds isn’t enough to successfully remove the oils and make them usable. So manufacturers use a chemical process of bleaching, refining, and heating these oils.
First they heat the seeds to very high temperatures. The byproducts created from this step are actually harmful to us. But that’s just the first step. Next they use petroleum-based solvents to extract the oil from the seeds, chemicals to improve the smell, and then another round of chemicals to make the color more appealing.
Sounds appetizing, right?
The product of this process is filled with trans fats, harmful byproducts, and residue left behind from the chemicals used. To top it off the oils aren’t even nutrient rich. In fact, the majority of the nutrients are destroyed during this process.
SO WHY ARE THEY USED IN FOOD?
Excellent question! I’m glad you asked!
Have you ever heard of a couple of soap makers from the late 1800s named William Procter and his brother-in-law James Gamble? They decided to turn the soap making world on its head by bypassing the traditional method of making soap using pork fat and creating their own with vegetable oils.
See, cottonseed oil was often used as a fuel source for lighting after the whaling industry began to fall. It had been deemed as “toxic waste,” though, when drilling for oil began in Pennsylvania.
Procter and Gamble had the genius idea of gathering up all the cottonseed oil that was no longer needed and using it for making soap. But they realized they could get even more bang for their buck if they chemically altered it to make it look like lard that was commonly used for cooking, and marketing it as a cooking fat. And that is when Crisco began making its way into the family kitchen.
Soon after, more seed oils were made. The low cost of manufacturing them made for an excellent marketing scheme.
1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”
This verse rings true in so many situations we are discovering in the world today. “Heart Healthy” seed oils are no exception.
Author Nina Teicholz exposed in her book The Big Fat Surprise how these harmful seed oils earned the tag “heart healthy.”
According to Teicholz, cardiologists were trying to get the fairly new American Heart Association going strong in the late 1940s. Along came Procter & Gamble shoveling out a generous $1.5 million. By coincidence, of course, the makers of Crisco were pleased to learn that the American Heart Association kindly endorsed the refined seed oils as a healthier alternative to genuine animal fats.
It just so happened around the same time that a researcher named Ancel Keys suggested saturated fat and cholesterol consumption (two things sourced in animal fats) were linked to heart disease. These findings (though later found to be faulty) conveniently led to an explosion of the use of seed and vegetable oils, as well as margarine, the solid form of vegetable oil. Beef tallow, pork lard, pure butter, etc., were demonized, and people were convinced these doctors and researchers had their best interest at heart. (No pun intended).
As the use of seed oils began to steadily increase during the first half of the 20th century, so did the prevalence of heart disease. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean heart disease was brought on by seed oils. But to continue to promote it as heart healthy without further investigating was criminal at best.
Researchers pointed their fingers in many different directions as to the cause of the rise in heart disease. While they continued to try to say saturated fats and cholesterol were to blame, lower levels of serum cholesterol did not correlate to fewer heart attacks, decreased chance of death from coronary heart disease, or death from all causes (1). So this theory no longer made sense.
By that point it was almost too late, though. Doctors had been taught, and therefore were passing along to their patients, that animal fats needed to be avoided and industrial seed oils were the way to go.
IS THERE ANYTHING GOOD WITH SEED OILS?
Let’s take a look at their nutrient profile to answer this question.
Seed oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 and omega-3 get quite a bit of attention in the nutrition world, but do you know much about them? If not, we dive deeper into them in our article “Decoding Omegas: The Impact of Omega-6 and Omega-3 on Your Health.”
As we discuss in that article, omega-6 is an essential fatty acid. Our body needs it, and we have to get it from the foods we eat. It is pro-inflammatory, which means it encourages inflammation within the body. Some inflammation is needed for optimal immune health. However, too much can be detrimental to your health.
Omega-6 can come from a variety of sources. Therefore, if you are consuming vegetable/seed oils there is a good chance your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is not balanced, and you are likely setting yourself up for a variety of health issues.
One unstable form of omega-6 known as linoleic acid is prominent in these seed oils. While it’s not uncommon for small amounts (1-3%) of linoleic acid to be present in whole foods, some industrialized seed oils contain more than 50% of this reactive fatty acid.
Consuming high levels of linoleic acid causes a buildup of this particular fat in your tissues and fat cells, and it leads to health issues like heart disease (2), migraines (3), atypical neurodevelopment, neurodegeneration, excessive inflammation, obesity (4), diabetes, and asthma.
The process of hydrogenation (adding hydrogen to the oil) used to make oils more solid introduces trans fats. In partially hydrogenated oils these artificial trans fats are prominent in the final product.
Although researchers had shared their concerns about artificial trans fats in the mid-20th century, it wasn’t until a 2013 legal battle with the FDA that they were given the attention they deserved. In his book Cholesterol is Not the Culprit: A Guide to Preventing Heart Disease, Dr. Fred Kummerow explains that while natural trans fats found in dairy have been found to be beneficial to the health, artificial trans fats like those found in partially hydrogenated oils are linked to a 23-26% increase in heart disease risk. They are also heavily linked to diabetes, inflammation, and cancer.
SEED OILS AND SUN EXPOSURE
We’ve been taught to avoid the sun or to lather on sunscreen if we have to be in it. But the sun does more than light and heat our planet. We’ll be talking about the benefits of sun exposure in a few weeks, but did you know there is a correlation between seed oils and sun exposure?
The more seed oils you consume, the more their polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) will gather under your skin. As the UV radiation from the sun reaches the outer layer of your skin, it forms dangerous free radicals that attack the PUFA in the cell membranes and fat layer. This process causes inflammation. However, those free radicals cannot attack saturated fat the way they can PUFA. In fact, the saturated fat is actually anti-inflammatory in this case. So the more seed oils, the more PUFA. The more PUFA, the more inflammation (aka sun damage). (17)
AVOIDING SEED OILS
Now that you know the dangers posed by seed oils, you may decide to no longer cook with them. Unfortunately that’s just a small portion of the battle. Seed oils are everywhere, figuratively speaking.
Soybean oil is in fried foods, processed foods, baked goods, salad dressings, and is even used to “water down” olive oils and avocado oils you commonly find in the supermarket to lower their cost (5). (This is why we recommend a high-quality, pure olive oil from a reputable place like Squizito Tasting Room*). Canola and corn oils are often used for frying foods in restaurants as well as baking. Palm oil can even be found in ice cream and packaged foods.
To avoid seed oils, you will have to start reading labels. At first you will be disappointed with all the places you see them hiding. Eventually, though, alternative choices will become your first choice. We aim to help you find those alternatives.
WHAT ARE SOME ALTERNATIVES?
We explore this topic more in our article “Time for an Oil Change: Top Choices for a Healthier Kitchen”. We’ll briefly touch on several top alternatives here, though.
1. OLIVE OIL
Olive oil has so many benefits that we have created an entire article where we dive deep into this oil. To read more visit “The Power of Olive Oil: Health Benefits and Culinary Uses”. For now, though, let’s hit the highlights.
In short, olive oil is antimicrobial, antioxidant, immunomodulatory (stimulates or suppresses the immune system, thereby helping the body fight infections and diseases), anticancer, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective (preventing and protecting the liver from damage), anti-neurodegenerative, neuroprotective, and more (6).
Olive oil has a lower smoke point than most other cooking oils, but the fact that it is composed primarily of monounsaturated fats indicates that it does not become harmful at high heat the way oils rich in polyunsaturated fats (such as seed oils) do (7). Therefore, olive oil (especially extra-virgin olive oil) can be used for cooking, baking, salad dressing, flavoring, and more (8).
2. AVOCADO OIL
Avocado oil has a similar nutrient profile as extra-virgin olive oil, garnering most of its fat from monounsaturated fatty acids. Its lower content of omega-6 fatty acids compared to seed oils also aids in landing it on this list of alternatives. It has a much higher smoke point than olive oil, though, making it a great option for sautéing, searing, and deep frying.
Make sure to look for unrefined avocado oil, as the process used to refine it typically contains chemical solvents that alter its nutrient profile.
3. COCONUT OIL
Coconut oil has a very different nutritional makeup than all the other oils we have discussed. It is comprised of more saturated fat, with a small amount of oleic acid (an omega-9) from monounsaturated fat, and an even smaller amount of linoleic acid (omega-6) from polyunsaturated fat.
While it’s low in omega-6, does its high saturated fat content make it bad?
Research has actually shown that coconut oil can protect against heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and infectious diseases (9). And the saturated fat content is not the villain it was once purported to be (10, 11, 16). While not all saturated fats are created equally (the chain length makes a difference in how they affect our bodies), there are some that are actually very beneficial. Coconut oil, grass-fed butter, ghee from grass fed butter, grass-fed beef, dark chocolate, full-fat dairy, cheese, and eggs all contain saturated fats that may guide your body to better health (12).
You can incorporate coconut oil into your diet by replacing other oils for sautéing, frying, and more, but coconut oil can also be used to clean teeth, moisturize skin, remove makeup, decrease dandruff, and so many other external applications.
4. GRASS-FED BUTTER
Butter is another alternative that has been made to be the bad guy, but in its pure form it actually has numerous health benefits. What the cows are fed makes a tremendous difference in the nutrient profile. Cows fed a diet consisting entirely of grass produce milk (and therefore butter) that is significantly richer in fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) than those fed a diet of grain. In fact, the butter contains about 400 different fatty acids. And remember that linoleic acid we talked about earlier? Conjugated linoleic acid is different. It’s an immune-boosting powerhouse that also fights cancer and aids weight loss.
Grass-fed butter is also rich in butyric acid (butyrate), which is a short-chain fatty acid that fights inflammation (14), rebuilds your gut lining and colon’s cell wall, improves insulin resistance, improves brain health (13), protects against neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s (13), and more.
It is a rich source of Vitamin A, medium-chain triglycerides (which boost metabolism and support the immune system), cholesterol (needed for hormone production, brain and nervous system development and function, and healthy cellular function), and arachidonic acid (another immune booster). (15)
5. GHEE FROM GRASS-FED BUTTER
Ghee is clarified butter that is made by melting butter until the milk solids separate from the fats, then straining off the milk solids. This process removes the lactose and casein, but it remains rich in medium- and short-chain fatty acids as well as butyrate. In fact, where butter contains 12-15 percent medium- and short-chain fatty acids, ghee can have more than 25 percent. They are metabolized differently than long-chain, making them not a factor in cardiovascular disease.
Ghee is shelf-stable, so it’s a great alternative for on-the-go, camping, etc. It also has a higher smoke point than butter, making it more stable at high heat.
6. GRASS-FED BEEF TALLOW
Finally we have grass-fed beef tallow. Tallow is the most traditional cooking fat, dating back to Ancient Rome and early days of Indigenous People. It is rendered by heating until the fat separates from the protein and bone, and then further separating the fat from other solids and water.
Like grass-fed butter, it is a rich source of CLA, vitamins A, D, E, K, and B12, healthy saturated and monounsaturated fats, choline, and various fatty acids.
It can help maintain low blood sugar, promote fat loss, and protect against oxidative stress.
Because it has a very high smoke point it’s an excellent choice for frying, searing, and sautéing.
CONCLUSION
While consumers were encouraged for many years to choose industrial seed oils over other cooking fats, we have learned the science behind that choice is flawed, and opting for our ancestors’ methods of cooking is superior. Whether you prefer extra-virgin olive oil, unrefined avocado oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, ghee from grass-fed butter, grass-fed beef tallow, or another pure form of cooking fat, the benefits you receive are all the proof you need to stick with this method and turn away from highly processed industrial seed oils.
*No compensation is received for recommending Squizito Tasting Room. It is simply a business we use regularly and whose products we trust.
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