4 Ways Vegetable Oils are Slowly Killing You

We’ve been told for quite a while now that vegetable oils (canola, soybean, safflower, corn, grapeseed) are much healthier than animal fats, great to cook with and are even good for heart health. They’re made from plants so they must be healthy, right? Well, let’s see.

1. Create Free Radicals When Heated

This topic seems to have a lot of confusion around it. We are told to cook with these oils rather than saturated or mono-unsaturated fats like animal fats and olive oils. Why? Because they are full of healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids (or so they say). These are the two essential fatty acids, meaning we can’t produce these on our own and must consume them. So shouldn’t we cook with them too? Let’s take a look.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) like omega-3 and omega-6 contain double bonds in their carbon chain. These double bonds are highly susceptible to damage via oxidation when heated. These fats have two places where oxygen can enter and react via their double bonds. It’s almost like we’re cooking with an explosive… kind of. For comparison, TNT contains 6 locations where oxygen can react giving it it’s explosive power. So maybe vegetable oils aren’t an explosive, but these fats are dangerous and damaging when heated. Once oxygen enters the molecule, it creates a free radical. The scary part of free radicals is they cause a chain reaction like dominoes. Once they enter your body they jump from PUFA to PUFA creating mutants. This chain reaction not only fries your arteries like fried chicken, but can damage almost every tissue in your body including your gut lining and beneficial bacteria.

You say, okay okay, maybe I won’t cook with them. But, I’m going to use them in my salad dressing and sauces that don’t involve heating to soak up all those essential fatty acids! Right, right?! Wrong.

2. Contain Cancer-Causing Cyclic Hydrocarbons and Dangerous Oxyphytosterols

As we know, things like canola seeds contain healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. The problem lies in how these oils are processed. The refining process involves intense heat, high pressure, and solvents such as hexane. What comes out is a brown mucky gunk. After this, the gunk goes through about 20 more steps that include bleaching and deodorizing to create “vegetable oil.” Oils that are “expeller pressed” just means hexane (or something similar) wasn’t used. But they still undergo all the other processing steps. Any healthy oils that once existed are now gone and replaced by a highly reactive oil. Studies on these oils have shown that as much as 5% contain cyclic hydrocarbons and oxyphytosterols. Cyclic hydrocarbons are considered food and environmental contaminants. Many of them are also considered carcinogens. I think most of us know that carcinogens can cause cancer, but what about oxyphytosterols? These are oxidized phytosterols and are mainly produced in the deodorizing stage. The compounds have been found to damage arteries, accumulate in the brain, and believed to increase your risk for Alzheimer’s and MS. On top of that, many of the healthy omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are no longer present in the oil after the numerous stages of processing.

3. We’re Drowning in These Oils

These “vegetable oils” are replacing healthy oils in almost every shelf stable food imaginable. You might be thinking, no no Kristen I’m good I buy organic and shop at my local health food store. Well, I hate to tell you that organic and health food stores are not safe from these oils. Start looking at ingredients of everything you buy and you will find these oils in just about everything. The obvious foods that contain these oils are: chips, crackers, cereals, bars, kids snacks, sweets, candy, breads, baked goods, etc. The not so obvious foods these oils are in: hummus, plant based milks, yogurts, sauces, protein powders, protein bars, granola, gummy vitamins, kid’s “healthy” meal bars, dried fruit, trail mix, mixed nuts, and so many more. The current estimate is that between 60-90% of the American diet is now processed foods. If the majority of your foods are processed, then your gut lining is processing carcinogens, free radicals, and rancid oils all day long. If you are consuming even just one seed-oil containing product a day imagine the damage that can cause day after day year after year. It’s no wonder the majority of Americans struggle with digestive issues. Our gut linings are taking the brunt work and trying to protect our bodies from cancer, Alzheimers, MS, fried arteries, and free radical dominoes.

4. These are Not Healthier Than Saturated Fats

Unpopular fact: we should be cooking with saturated fat. Yes, that’s right, saturated fat. The thing that we’ve been told never to eat and it clogs your arteries and you will die of a heart attack. Yes that thing.

Saturated fat does not have any double bonds. Saturated means they have a hydrogen at every carbon molecule. This means there is no room for oxygen to enter and mutate the oil and create free radicals. This means free radicals are not entering your body causing disease in every tissue like dominoes. Saturated fat is not the cause coronary heart disease or ischemic stroke. Chronic inflammation is the cause. Why do so many Americans have chronic inflammation? Well, one reason is because we are drowning in toxic oils that cause a domino effect of free radicals and inflammation.

Conclusion

I’ll make the summary short. If you don’t want to damage your entire body, don’t use “vegetable oils”. If you want to lesson your digestive pain, eliminate “vegetable oils”. Healthy alternatives include: animal fats, butter, olive oil, peanut oil, palm oil, unrefined cold pressed oils.