IT is interested in something very bland can cause so much controversy. Most of us have bottles of seed oil in our kitchens, commonly referred to as vegetable oil in the UK. This is a rarely tasteless but very useful fat that has been a common cooking ingredient for decades.
Still, this previously unremarkable golden liquid has sparked online turmoil and malicious debate. Social media nutrition influencers describe it as the root cause of “toxicity,” “inflammatory,” “unnatural,” and obesity epidemics.
US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. His opinion sparked controversy For subjects, from vaccines to fluoride in drinking water, I said The population is “unconsciously poisoned” by seed oil, which urged people to return to “traditional” fats such as butter, lard and beef.
last month Wall Street Journal It has been reported The fast food chain was promoting a shift from seed oil after Kennedy’s criticism. He even made a visit that aired on the branch of the steak’n shake to praise the decision to cook fries with beef tallow instead.
So, should we really throw away the bottles of vegetables and sunflower oil and cover everything in the lard?
Seed oil has been widely used since the 1950s and is not only used in home cooking, but also contains many ultra-processed foods. It includes rapeseed (known in the US as canola and commonly labeled as vegetable oil in the UK), sunflowers, soybeans, corn, grape seeds, rice bran, sesame seeds, and safflower. Although cold pressed seed oils can be purchased, the most common production method is to extract the oil from the plant using a solvent (usually hexane). It is correct that hexane is a toxic substance, but the purification process removes almost completely from the final product. The EU allows a maximum residual limit of 1mg per kilo.
The purification process involves bleaching and deodorizing. Both critics rushed, claiming that seed oil was “unnatural” and therefore “bad.”
Tom Sanders, professor emeritus in nutrition and nutrition at King’s College London, spends his career studying dietary fats and health.
Sarah Berry, professor of nutrition science at Kings, said, “In my opinion, the final product is very safe.”
The next allegation against seed oil is that they are “inflammatory.” This assumption is based on a fundamental misconception of science, says Berry.
Seed oil critics argue that the types of omega-6 fatty acids present in them (called linoleic acid) can be inflammatory, while omega-3 is another essential porinsor saturated fatty acid found in foods such as oily fish, flaxseed and chia seeds, which may reduce inflammation.
“The claim is that the enzymes used to convert omega-3 into anti-inflammatory chemicals are the same as those used to convert omega-6, so too much seed oil means that the enzymes will be stolen from omega-3,” says Berry.
“This is not true. It is also true from theoretical biochemical pathways. It is true in mice upon unrealistic stimulation. But it is absolutely not true in humans.” In fact, randomized controlled trials have shown that linoleic acid has neutral or most studies to have anti-inflammatory effects on humans.
“The idea that linoleic acid is a kind of toxic is absolutely nonsense,” says Sanders. “It’s an essential nutrient. It’s the most important fatty acid of essential fatty acids. If it’s deficient, it will damage immune function and platelet function will not function.”
Berry, the chief scientist at nutritional company Zoey, also has a powerful cholesterol-lowering effect. “It has been shown to significantly reduce blood cholesterol, so based on current evidence, we say that seeds aren’t just not. What’s worse for us is that they are a healthy part of our diet. ”
Sanders has caused a large part of the decline in cardiovascular disease seen in increased seed oil consumption over the past 50 years. A few weeks ago, a study that followed 200,000 adults over 33 years found that people who replaced one tablespoon of butter a day with plant-based oils such as soy-based or rapeseed had a 17% reduction in the risk of death from all causes. Research published in Jama Internal Medicine It also found a 17% reduction in the risk of cancer death.
“Our study found that higher butter intake was associated with increased deaths from all causes and cancer, while an increased intake of plant-based oils was associated with reduced deaths from all causes, cancer and cardiovascular disease.”
Nutritionist Priya Tew, from the UK, says some of the confusion may have stemmed from research in the 1960s. “We have shown that men with heart disease have a higher intake of seed oil, but this has been shown to increase the risk of heart disease through margarine containing trans fats.”
A similar logic is that it has been over 200 times over the last 50-70 years due to increased seed oil intake, but there is also a rate of chronic disease.
“Associations do not mean causality,” Berry says. “Think about what else has changed. Our food landscape is hardly recognised compared to 70 years ago. 60% of the seed oil we consume comes from many other chemicals that are unhealthy for us, and ultra-high-processed foods that have processes that affect the health of our food.”
In other words, it’s not the seed oil that has a problem.
Berry’s recent statement on seed oil put her in hot water. After appearing on a podcast describing seed oil as healthy, she received merciless hate emails, including being said to be “the most hated scientist in America.”
“It was about to stop talking about topics, so I didn’t need to be exposed to such horrifying comments or sleazyness, but I thought that was exactly what they wanted.
As always, with nutrition, it is better to consider the overall diet rather than the hyperoxygenate of one ingredient. However, this type of message doesn’t tend to gain much traction. “The human nature is so easy for us to take risks and scare headlines,” Berry says. “They will get more clicks than balanced, boring nutrition scientists like me who are not OK with seed oil as part of a balanced diet.”
Sanders says there’s no need to throw away the seeds and should not be traded for butter or lard. “All the scary thing about seed oil is gossip. It’s not based on good science at all.”
