Seed oils are currently in the spotlight for having a negative impact on our health. Are they really that bad, and should we be making more informed choices?
A friend recently mentioned he was told he should eliminate all seed oils from his diet. He heard they were bad to cook with and that they were present in a lot of processed foods.
”Is this true?” he asked.
My initial instinct was to respond to his question with a list of my own questions and discuss the intricacies of seed oils and nutrition research. But who wants to get on that train? It’s time-consuming, and ultimately, most of us just want confirmation we’re on the right track.
Sometimes, we need to simply sum it up. So, here is my succinct-as-possible explanation of seed oils, to set the record straight.
(P.S. I couldn’t help but include a caveat at the end, which you may take or leave. If you skip it, I won’t cry (OK I might), but please take with you that the crux of nutrition science is at baseline nuanced and nearly impossible to define in binary terms. It’s messy.
So, on that note…
What are seed oils?
Seed oils are refined vegetable oils that come from the seed of the plant instead of the flower. Examples include safflower, sunflower, corn, canola, and grapeseed.
What is wrong with seed oils?
Nothing is intrinsically “wrong” with them, and in fact, all vegetable oils are considered heart healthy by The American Heart Association.
But here are the three alarms that people tend to sound:
1. “Seed oils are rich in Omega-6 fatty acids, which are pro-inflammatory.”
In reality, Omega-6 fatty acids have many health-promoting properties. There is no legitimate evidence to suggest otherwise.
Seed oils also happen to be cheap to make, and they are relatively shelf stable, so companies tend to use them in their packaged goods. In turn, the narrative on seed oils (and in many ways, the Omega-6 fatty acids they contain) has become linked with processed food.
Since processed food takes the blame (most would say legitimately) for a litany of health problems, seed oils, and in turn Omega-6 fatty acids, take on the weight of that too.
But when you take a step back, it’s clear that eating processed foods is not the same as cooking at home with sunflower oil, for example. One cannot simply say that because seed oils are found in packaged foods, they must be harmful to cook with. Far from it.
(Check out my article on the ratios between Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids for more details on why an imbalance between the two is linked to chronic diseases.)
- “Seed oils are commonly used to fry foods because of the high smoke point.”
Have you ever turned on a pan, put in some oil, and then got distracted? I have. What results is a very smelly kitchen. This is because the oil has been heated beyond its “smoke point.”
When this happens, the oil starts to degrade. So, we discard the oil and start again. (Of course this time, we try to pay closer attention!)
Seed oils tend to have a higher smoke point than unsaturated fruit oils (like olive oil for example), meaning they can withstand higher heat before degrading, in turn changing its composition and function. This is one reason why restaurants tend to use seed oils to fry foods. But, if they re-use that oil over and over, as is often done in restaurants, the quality can deteriorate in much of the same way oils do when they reach their smoke point.
If you’re eating out, you won’t have control over this step. Using degraded oils means consuming compounds that can form into other harmful compounds, causing cell damage. You will simply never know if this is the case, but it can happen.
And while Ann and I hope this fact may encourage more people to cook food at home a little more often (from the 1000+ recipes we have to choose from ), it’s clearly not a linear argument to state that seed oils are bad for us because they can be misused.
- “We ingest toxic chemicals that are used in the process of extracting seed oils.”
There are many different ways to get the oil out of seeds, one of the most laborious and expensive being to press it out. Another way is to use toxic chemicals, like hexane, to draw out the oil. And this is what people fear.
In reality, hexane is removed before any dangerous consumption by the consumer occurs. But toxic chemicals in food is click bait, so this particular tale of people ingesting toxic chemicals stays on the merry-go-round!
Should we make changes based on this information? Here are options to consider:
- Cooking at home and eating snacks prepared at home gives us more control over which oils we consume.
- Consider varying the type of oils used to vary your nutrient intake. Some oils are higher in Vitamin E or D, while others have more Omega-6 or Omega-3. By varying, you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
- You could do the opposite and simplify your pantry by using a large jug of olive oil for most of your cooking and baking needs (this is what Ann does, and she says she has seldom had a problem with smoke point or off-flavor, even when frying.). Ann says, “if you don’t like the idea of baking with olive oil (the flavor is often mild enough to work), avocado oil offers a mild-tasting alternative. It actually has a buttery undertone, which works as well in baked goods as it does with roasted vegetables.”
- Honor your unique cultural background by using the oils that work best with recipes you grew up with. This could include coconut, palm, peanut, and sesame oils, for example. Sharing special family recipes with those you love is an undeniably important part of nutrition!
Bottom Line
Don’t sweat it, but if you feel compelled to make a change in your cooking oils, take note of some of the above suggestions.
…The Caveat
Research consistently shows that those who eat an excessive amount of one thing – be it omega-6 oils, Doritos, or coffee – are at higher risk for developing negative health associations. Research does not implicate the person who incorporates a wide variety of foods in the diet, or the kid who ate a bag (not five) of Doritos after soccer practice.
Unfortunately, that’s how many nutrition and exercise influencers, podcasters, and businesses frame their content. Their sound bites focus on the quick and easily consumable (forgive the pun). Eat this nutrient, stay away from that one. That nutrient is toxic, but this one will cure your woes.
We listen because the messages are clear, they speaks to us (or, are often relatable), and on the surface seem to make sense. But this is why it’s easy to get confused when it comes to nutrition: the information comes to us in rapid fire and oftentimes conflicts from one “expert” to another.
Because of this, it’s hard to know which sound bites are important and which to leave behind. A personal subscription to all the health care journals will cost a non-health professional hundreds of dollars a year. Plus, it takes a lot of time and expert research background to effectively comb through the stacks of papers. Few people are going to do that.
While I understand the urge, and in many cases the rationale, to know more about what is in the food we eat, we also need to exercise caution in how we interpret research findings. Making decisions or judgments on foods solely based on one ingredient or vitamin – no matter what our health goals are – is not the best way to manage our diets.
So, when you read a catchy headline, hear about a nutrition trend, or someone tells you that what you are eating is harmful to your health, don’t jump on any bandwagon before speaking with your healthcare provider. And as always, we welcome your nutrition questions as well .
Leave a Reply