I’ve been seeing more posts from r/stopeatingseedoils.
What’s the story there?
Is there anything to the science or is this just another Reddit nutrition fad sub?
When I looked at the Omega 3-6-9 profiles of food oils, non-seed oils like olive, avocado and walnut oils seem preferable, but I thought canola oil looked pretty good from that standpoint too.
I’ve also seen articles claim cold/expeller pressed versus heat pressed processing is better for us with seed oils.
Will be interested in what the pros think.
In my experience the people who say seed oils kill you are the same people who melt a whole stick of butter in their coffee “for their health <3”. So, I don’t have much confidence that they are really aware of what the science says since they totally and completely disregard the research done on saturated fat and atherosclerosis.
Its not exactly that they are ‘seed oils’ which has become a bit of a meme unfortunately. But many of the polyunsaturated fats that are common in seeds (linoleic acid and arachidonic acid) have strong evidence of having negative health effects at least in animal models. It gets more complicated as there are many polyunsaturated fats and not all are equally bad. We could use some better trials in humans.
The basic epidemiology also points to saturated fats and not polyunsaturated being the healthiest. Basically you are asking about the biggest ‘controversy’ in nutrition.
The science behind seed l oils being bad is not based on outcomes, just mechanistic speculation and some animal models which use doses of seed oils far in excess of the recommended intake (in most counties it’s around 2% of energy from n-6 and 0.5% of energy from n-3).
Claims of seed oils causing inflammation addres based on LA being converted to AA which is a precursor of inflammatory prostaglandins, but this fails to explain causation. That’s like saying buying eggs causes omelets. Inflammation is a normal part of a healthy human body. If the issue is with systemic or chronic inflammation, I’d say cutting down on the ingredients your body needs to make inflammatory molecules is really treating a symptom and ignoring the cause.
Claims that PUFAs being easily oxidised are true (chemically speaking those extra electrons are ripe for thievery), but our immune systems use products of oxidation (ROS) as a way of killing off unwanted cells. We’re also equipped with antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase to deal with oxidation along with the antioxidant vitamins. There doesn’t seem to be any good evidence that eating PUFAs in the recommended dosages is harmful, just speculation that it might be if there’s a higher PUFA content in cell membranes.
Seed oils are cheap, so they often show up in highly processed junk food, and are usually used for deep frying, so if avoiding them means you’re avoiding junk food you’ll likely be healthier. So you hear a lot of anecdotal stuff like “I stopped eating seed oils, lost 65lbs, and my diabetes went away”. And that’s great, but I don’t think it’s because of seed oils being removed, it’s because of high calorie junk being removed.
Doctors once said smoking was good for you, so let us not be so naive as to not realize half the studies are industry-funded (esp when it comes to Canola) and the rest look unfavorable on it. So take your pick.
Excess omega 6 causes inflammation and displaces omega 3 in the diet. Carcinogens such as aldehydes during cooking of these oils are precursors to cancer. They are too easily rendered rancid. Any health benefits are certainly naught barring the manufacturers marketing claims.
It is for all intents and purposes, useless junk calories.
Here’s where I first heard about this: EP. 239: KALE DOES NOT LOVE YOU BACK from the Meateater podcast with Steven Rinella. It’s hunting focused.
Webpage from Paul Saladino “Carnivore MD”, interviewed in the podcast above, talking about various foods including seed oils. Scroll down and search for them. He has degrees from U of A, UW, and is a board certified Physician Nutrition Specialist. I added that part b/c someone else said that no one advocating this viewpoint is a nutritionist.
I’m not trying to advocate either way, I just happened to have heard that podcast a few years back and it made intuitive sense to me. I’ve mostly, but not entirely, switched to using olive oil and avocado oil. I was already using those more than any seed oils anyway.
As with all things physiological, I think the answer is ‘it depends’. Some people swear by all sorts of things, that doesn’t mean it will work for you or me. Maybe it actually does for them.
I’m curious if there is any indication that our ancient ancestors ate seed oils? Is there an evolutionary expectation that our bodies have adapted to consume them in the quantities we do today? That doesn’t mean they’re bad, but I’m certainly more skeptical of them than olive oil, butter or whatever else I know humans have been eating for thousands of years. I eat a high fat, low carb diet and drink bulletproof coffee multiple times per week. I was surprised to hear my doctor state that my cholesterol and other numbers were some of the best she’s ever seen. I no longer buy into the paradigm that saturated fat is bad, just bad when eaten with sugar and carbs.
I have the feeling that the people who have those claims cherrypick their information and sources.
Yes, fats (saturated, trans, or insaturated) increase the risk of metabolic syndrome and obesity. Because they increase the overall calorie intake.
Maybe there is a balance to find in omega-6 and omega-3, but honestly? It is absolutely not the main concern Ina lot of people. It’s the overall consumption that is problematic, and diets that are not diversified because eating always the same things is not the best thing to do.
Those who claim those things include coconut oil (which, yes, is a vegetable oil but is highly saturated…), refined oils and trans fats, which consumptions are all considered increasing health problems (and apparition of heart diseases).
Nothing is good in excess, your diet has to be diverse, which means you can (and have to) eat of everything.
That’s my take
There isn’t much, most studies with actual outcome data would seem to show they’re neutral or maybe even beneficial, most studies used to discredit seed oils are either mechanistic or animal studies which aren’t a good indicator of effect on human health
Haven’t seen anyone mention Caldwell Esselstyn from Cleveland clinic. Would his research be a part of this conversation?I’m neither for or against, but his findings have led to me minimizing oil intake if possible. It’s not that big a deal to cut oils out of your diet if you’re already watching what you eat. Esselstyn findings seem obvious to me, why are some postings here getting so fired up about this “issue”?