Are Seed Oils Making Us Sick?
Decoding Seed Oils
Ok. Sorry for the long hiatus but I am back!! And we are about to get down and dirty on this one. The controversial topic of SEED OILS.
What are Seed Oils?
Seed oils, also called PUFAS (polyunsaturated fatty acids) or more commonly vegetable oils have been marketed as the ‘healthier’ alternative to saturated fats in our diets for years BUT are they?
Seed oils are the oil extracted from canola, sunflower, safflower, soybean, cottonseed, corn. Of late these oils have been a huge topic of discussion in the holistic health circles.
Are Seed Oils Healthy?
We have been ‘told’ for years that saturated fats are bad for our health and a main cause of heart disease. When saturated fats were deemed a health hazard in the well known study by Ancel Keys - The Seven Countries Study, vegetable oils, polyunsaturated fats were the recommended replacement in our diets. This is when ‘heart healthy’ oils/fats became the norm. Butter, tallow, lard from animal sources were replaced with margarine, canola oil, and the more common product Crisco. Seed oils are commonplace in restaurants, bakeries, and in processed foods and help extend shelf life of foods.
How are Seed Oils Made?
Introduced into the market the early 1900’s, seed oils were originally developed by Proctor and Gamble. In the soap making process, they discovered that they could make soap using vegetable oil rather then lard. When cottonseed oil was deemed toxic waste once convention oil was used for lanterns, Proctor and Gamble began using the cottonseed oil for soap. This also highlighted the fact that through the chemical process, the cottonseed oil became a solid at room temperature and thus the product Crisco was developed and marketed as an alternative cooking product.
This then started the snowball effect of using other products to produce oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, etc.
Seed oils are highly processed and heated under high temperature and pressure. This causes the seeds to become oxidized and become highly inflammatory to our bodies. These seeds are processed in petroleum based solvents to maximize the amount of oil that is extracted. Then chemicals are used to remove the smell and improve the color of the oils. Sounds like something we should be putting in our bodies, doesn’t it?
Seed Oils Today
From the 1970’s to the year 2000, seed oil consumption increased from 4lbs per person per year to 26lbs per person per year. This is also when health began to deteriorate and weight started to balloon in the western world. Autoimmune disease, diabetes, heart disease, digestion issues and more have become more prevalent.
In today’s world seed oils are derived from GMO plants. Otherwise known as bio-engineered foods. There are no studies currently that have discussed the long term effects of consuming GMO foods.
How to Avoid Seed Oils
Well sorry to say that totally avoiding seeds oils is next to impossible because it is used in so many things. Processed foods, restaurants and food prep companies and also used in skin care products. So here are a few ways to lessen our consumption of these products.
Limit your processed food consumption as much as possible
Cook at home using butter, tallow, lard, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil
Eat more grass fed meats
Remove these oils from your home - outta sight, outta mind
Read the labels of your skin care products and choose products without seed oils
Use tallow, coconut oil or castor oil as a moisturizer
Looking for more reading material on saturated fats vs seed oils, I HIGHLY suggest reading the book - The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz.
Happy Reading and as always, I appreciate the shares of this article, as well as comments and feedback.
Danni
Excellent piece Danni! 👏🏻