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To their credit, (non-hydrogenated) vegetable oils have improved on the health side, but they can still increase risk of epidemic-level problems like heart disease.
Thereโs something disarming about seeing the word โcorn,โ โsafflower,โ or โvegetableโ sandwiched between fifteen-letter-long preservatives on food labels, which is one reason why unhealthy vegetable oils have evaded serious criticism for so long.
Still, these seemingly benign animal fat alternatives have recently been exposed for what they really are: industrially processed, omega-6-rich oils that jack up major disease rates like Gamestop stock.
How harmful are these oils exactly, and why are we still using them?
It all started with an early-1900s soapmaking operation.
Like many discoveries and inventions, hydrogenated vegetable oils were originally used for a different purpose.
Weโll keep the history lesson brief, but once you appreciate how deep the vegetable oil industryโs roots run, itโs easier to appreciate how hard these products are to avoid.
At the turn of the twentieth century, two enterprising brothers-in-law began pioneering new and cheaper ways to manufacture soap for their business.
Proctor and Gamble werenโt initially interested in usurping lard as a cooking ingredient, but after they learned how to hydrogenate cottonseed oil for their soap (around 1910), American restaurants and retailers quickly became their best customers.
This is because the hydrogenated cottonseed oil they produced strongly resembled lard, the presiding fat of the day, and could be produced at a fraction of the cost.
And so, Crisco was born.
Stupefyingly high in trans fat (fifty percent by weight), Crisco swept the nation in a matter of months.
Proctor and Gamble marketed this lard alternative as much healthier than animal fats, and because food labeling and testing regulations in 1912 were a joke, they got away with it.
Almost a century passed before Crisco finally got the shaming it deserved (though people still use it), but from its greasy ashes have risen a series of slightly less harmful, but still problematic products, such as:
These products are extremely prevalent today, as food producers stuff them into margarine, chips/cookies/snacks, pastries, fried food, and much more.
Many nutrition experts still cling to the belief that these oils are healthy, but we have two very important reasons why they definitely are not:
Yes, omega-6 acids are healthy in their own right, and our bodies do need them to promote heart health, but when the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 (the two PUFAs) is too high, a litany of serious problems can result.
The American diet is already far too high in omega-6 acids, thanks to these oils, and far too deficient in omega-3 acids, which are found in salmon, flaxseed, nuts, and other quietly neglected foods youโll never see in a super bowl commercial.
As pre-agricultural nomads and cave dwellers, humans got plenty of omega-3s from wild game, nuts, and seeds, but we are now severely deficient.
According to best-selling author and family physician Dr. Mark Hyman, โOmega-6 fats not only fuel your bodyโs inflammatory pathways, but also reduce availability of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats in your tissues, resulting in more inflammation.โ
This is because omega-6 fats prevent the conversion of omega-3s into EPA and DHA, two very important fatty acids in the prevention of serious diseases.
Aided very much by the prevalence of vegetable oil, this skewed ratio has resulted in increased incidences of the following diseases:
As the term โoxidative stressโ slowly works its way into the laymanโs lexicon, it is subjected to plenty of misinterpretations.
Put simply, this refers to an increase in the ratio of free radicals, which arenโt always bad, to antioxidants.
Free radicals are unstable, highly reactive molecules that cause chain reactions in the bodyโs cells, often referred to as oxidation.
When there arenโt enough antioxidants (molecules that donate electrons to free radicals, rendering them stable) around, the body is said to be in a state of oxidative stress.
According to a study from Laval University in Quebec, heated vegetable oils contain โcyclic fatty acid monomers,โ which โincreased the levels of markers of oxidative stressโ on Wistar rats that were fed canola or soybean oil over a 28-day period.
Similar to a high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, oxidative stress can contribute to the development of many serious diseases, including Alzheimerโs, Parkinsonโs, cancer, asthma, and much more.
The type of omega-6 acid most commonly found in the Western diet, i.e., in vegetable oils, is called linoleic acid.
A systematic review from Saint Lukeโs Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO, found that the amount of linoleic acid in adipose (fat) tissue is โpositively associated with coronary artery disease,โ also noting that โomega-3 acids are inversely related.โ
This supports our earlier mention of the role of omega-6 in inhibiting the effects of omega-3s, but itโs not so simple as a 1:1 conflict.
According to the review, it is the metabolites of linoleic acid that promote atherosclerosis, not the acid in its original form.
Still, less of the precursor means less of the metabolite.
Vegetable oils are extremely commonplace, and avoiding them altogether is unrealistic, but you can significantly cut down your intake with these alternatives.
Enough of the bad newsโthereโs hope yet for conscientious objectors to the refined oil establishment.
While itโs virtually impossible to avoid industrial vegetable oils in even progressive (gluten-sensitive, vegan, etc.) restaurants, you can seriously reduce or eliminate your intake with a careful overhaul of your grocery list.
We used the following criteria when selecting the best alternatives to commonly used vegetable oils:
These oils and foods made the cut:
Itโs easy enough to swap out vegetable oils for EVOO at home, but be wary of restaurants and pre-packaged snacks/pastries.
Even if you donโt think a grocery store item contains vegetable oil, always check the label.
Finally, itโs important not to get into an anti-omega-6 mindset; itโs much better to increase omega-3 intake to reach a 1:1 ratio.
In the case of processed vegetable oils, however, one drop is too many.
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