4 Reasons to Avoid Vegetable Oils
It is notoriously difficult to determine the long term effects of foodstuffs on our health. Vegetable oil is no different and while there have been surprisingly few studies done on its impact there is nothing positive to report.
With a lack of scientific data available, we must look at what evidence we do have and draw our own conclusions. Here are 4 reasons why I choose to avoid them:
1. Correlation with Chronic Diseases
The rise in the consumption of vegetable oils is probably the most dramatic change in diet that the human race has ever experienced. From barely existing 100 years ago vegetable oils now constitute 20% of our diet and our bodies have had no opportunity to adapt to this change.
Global consumption of vegetable oils has doubled over the last 20 years while during the same period the amount of adult Americans who suffer from a chronic disease has risen from 45% to 60%. There is no other food group whose consumption correlates so closely with the proliferation of chronic disease and most other “unhealthy” markers have remained stable or gone down over this period.
2. Industrially Processed
The process involved in obtaining these oils makes them some of the most chemically altered foods in our diet. The oil must be removed from the seeds by heating and pressing, and then a solvent is added to the “seed cake” to remove more oils before the solvent is distilled off.
The oil is then refined to remove the natural colour, odour and bitterness by heating to a high temperature in the presence of an alkaline substance. The oil is then “de-gummed” with the addition of an acid before being bleached, deodorised and packaged.
3. Huge Environmental Impact
Vegetable oils are very bad for the environment. Not only do 2 of the 3 top drivers of deforestation happen to be vegetable oil crops but while vegetable oil crops account for 20–30% of global cropland use they only deliver around 0.01% of the world’s nutrients. 5 tablespoons of sunflower oil requires 2800 sunflower seeds while the same amount of corn oil requires 98 ears of corn.
4. Harmful Levels of Omega 6
Vegetable oils are incredibly high in Linoleic acid — a type of Omega 6 fatty acid. Soybean and Sunflower Oils contain 9g and 10g respectively in every tablespoon. The average American now consumes an estimated 40g of Omega 6 every day compared to just 9.5g in 1909. This translates to an increase in the level of Omega 6 comprised in our fat cells from 8% in 1961 to nearer 30% today.
It’s easy to get bogged down here but essentially human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of about 1:1 Omega-6 to Omega-3. However, today that ratio in the US is between 10:1 and 20:1, and as high as 50:1 in some parts of the world. These ratios are mirrored by the ratio in all our cell walls.
High Omega 6 levels are considered to be pro-inflammatory and have been linked to arthritis, asthma, as well as allergies and bowel conditions. It is also thought to blunt sensitivity to Insulin and Leptin which is a direct cause of obesity. In fact, high Omega 6 levels have been linked to just about every chronic disease including cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Our poor Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratios have also been influenced by the increase in the amount of grains that we eat. In addition, the meat, fish and dairy in our diets often contain lower levels of Omega 3 and higher levels of Omega 6 due to the modern prevalence of grains and vegetable oils in fish and animal feeds.
There is no need to consume vegetable oils and cooking with them accentuates their ill effects. There are alternatives — butter, olive oil, lard, coconut oil and dripping for example.
The best advice is to avoid packaged foods, fried foods from restaurants and to cook your own meals using whole foods wherever possible.
For more information read Why We Eat (Too Much) by Dr Andrew Jenkinson or visit www.jeffnobbs.com both of which I used as sources for this article.
