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Seed oil controversy

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Flax, flax seeds, linseed oil, linseed cake

Since 2020, the health effects of consuming certain processed vegetable oils, called "seed oils" by critics, have been subject to controversy in popular media. The trend grew after podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan interviewed fad diet proponent Paul Saladino about the carnivore diet, during which they discussed the health effects of vegetable fats.[1][2][3][4][5] Critics allege that seed oils are the root cause of most diseases of affluence, including heart disease,[6] diabetes,[7] and liver spots;[8] however, the majority consensus is that they are safe for consumption and do not cause the claimed health issues.[9]

Origins

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Cover of the original Crisco cookbook, 1912

The term "seed oil" has no specific definition by the scientific establishment.[10] Critics, however, cite a specific "hateful eight" oils that constitute the universe of seed oils: canola, corn, cottonseed, soy, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and rice bran.[11] These oils are relatively recent inventions, creations of industrialization in the early twentieth century. In the United States, cottonseed oil was developed, and marketed by Procter & Gamble as a creamed shortening – Crisco – as early as 1911.[12] Ginning mills were happy to have someone haul away the cotton seeds. The extracted oil was refined and partially hydrogenated to give a solid at room temperature and thus mimic natural lard, and canned under nitrogen gas. Compared to the rendered lard Procter & Gamble was already selling to consumers, Crisco was cheaper, easier to stir into a recipe, and could be stored at room temperature for two years without turning rancid.

Industrial solvents

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Due to the industrial processes used to generate most vegetable oils, critics of these oils often point to the health hazards of the solvents involved. Hexane, which can be neurotoxic, is extremely effective at oil extraction.[13] Thus, it is often quoted as a danger when consuming vegetable oils as it can be found in finished foodstuffs in trace amounts.[14] Accordingly, the United States Environmental Protection Agency studied the toxicity of hexane extensively in the 1980s.[15] The studies found that the hexane used in industrial processes was safe for consumption and did not cause nerve damage.[16][17]

Omega-6 fatty acids

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Chemical structure of the polyunsaturated fatty acid linoleic acid

Processed oils have a higher proportion of omega-6 fatty acids than do oils from fish and walnuts. Because omega-6 fatty acids constitute a growing proportion of Americans' fat intake, this imbalance has been hypothesized to contribute to several negative health externalities, including inflammation[18] and immunodeficiency.[19][20]

Views

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Medical and scientific opinion

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The majority scientific and medical opinion about consumer vegetable oils is that they are generally recognized as safe for human consumption.[21][22] The claim that omega-6 fatty acids cause inflammation has not been demonstrated in multiple meta-analyses in either healthy adults[23] or in adults with inflammatory bowel disease.[24] A causal link has not been shown and most of the studies showing negative effects of omega-6 were conducted on rodents.[25] In humans, most cardiovascular health researchers believe omega-6 fatty acids are safe and healthy.[26] The American Heart Association has stated that a reduction in omega-6 fatty acids could lead to an increase, not reduction, in cardiovascular disease.[27][28]

Online communities

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Supporters of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin have been noted to have strong opposition to seed oils, connecting it to a general opposition to the government and media establishment.[29] As many dietary trends are often directly connected to group identity,[30] online communities such as Reddit have been known to amplify fad diet uptake[31] and in the case of the ketogenic diet has had a similar role following a Joe Rogan Experience guest endorsing the diet.[32][33]

Association with right-wing political figures

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Opposition to seed oils has been primarily associated with the political right, with figures such as Mike Cernovich and Joe Rogan endorsing criticism of the oils.[34]

U.S. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. campaigned on health-related conspiracy theories and attracted support from voters opposed to seed oils.[35] In his speech suspending his campaign and endorsing that of Donald Trump, he blamed several health conditions on processed foods' inclusion of seed oils.[36] Later that day, Kennedy appeared alongside Trump to declare that the latter would "make America healthy again," endorsing Trump's health and food policies.[37]

References

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  1. ^ Dickson 2023: "Derek Beres, the co-author of the book Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat, says he first started noticing whispers about seed oils being hazardous to your health when he saw Paul Saladino, aka Carnivore MD, an influencer with more than two million Instagram followers who advocates for a primarily animal-based diet, speaking about it on Joe Rogan’s podcast."
  2. ^ Zaleski 2021: "Last year, Joe Rogan talked to doctor and carnivore diet evangelist Paul Saladino about this for more than three hours."
  3. ^ Williams 2022: "[T]he interview with Saladino resonated with Rogan's curious, hungry, and enormous audience"
  4. ^ Carleton 2022: "Take Dr. Paul Saladino, the doctor behind the Carnivore Diet, which recommends replacing plant foods with meat, for example—he spent three hours on the Joe Rogan Experience in 2020 describing the harms of seed oils, among other fringe views, including that doing cold plunges has the same health benefits as consuming a plate of vegetables. His name is often mentioned on this section of the internet, (one redditor attributed the proliferation of anti-seed oil sentiment entirely to his appearance on the podcast)."
  5. ^ Saladino 2020, 58:23: "I think it's important to understand what we talked about, processed vegetable oils and processed sugars, hugely bad for humans."
  6. ^ Harvard University 2022: "[P]ushed back on the idea that these oils cause health ills ranging from headaches to heart disease."
  7. ^ Liao 2022: "[T]hey're blamed for a host of ills, such as headaches, foggy thinking, lowered immunity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and more."
  8. ^ Williams 2022: "[I]f you want something to blame for everything from cancer to heart disease, dementia to age spots, there are a whole lot of people out there who will tell you the culprit is lurking in your pantry"
  9. ^ Colorado State University 2023: "Overall, claiming that seed oils are harmful to health is not, in fact, an evidence-based claim."
  10. ^ Lusas et al. 2017, p. 837: "The choice of the term 'oil' or 'fat' usually is based on tradition"
  11. ^ Zaleski 2021: "On another podcast in 2020, board-certified family physician Cate Shanahan referred to the most common seed oils on the market today as the 'hateful eight,' to be avoided at all costs."
  12. ^ Ramsey & Graham 2012: "Soon the company's scientists produced a new creamy, pearly white substance out of cottonseed oil. It looked a lot like the most popular cooking fat of the day: lard. Before long, Procter & Gamble sold this new substance (known today as hydrogenated vegetable oil) to home cooks as a replacement for animal fats."
  13. ^ Wakelyn & Wan 2003, p. 365: "Direct solvent extraction involves the use of a nonpolar solvent, usually commercial hexane, to dissolve the oil from oilseed flakes or collets without removing proteins and other non-oil-soluble compounds. Solvent extraction yields about 11.5% more oil than does the screw press method, and less oil remains in the meal."
  14. ^ Cravotto et al. 2022, p. 18: "Some studies have been conducted on n-hexane residues in commercial products showing the presence of n-hexane in commercial hexane-extracted oils, in food products, and in functional health foods"
  15. ^ Environmental Protection Agency 1988, p. 3382: "Pursuant to section 4(a) of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), EPA is issuing a final test rule requiring manufacturers and processors of commercial hexane to perform testing for subchronic toxicity, oncogenicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity, mutagencity, neurotoxicity, and inhalation and dermal pharmacokinetics."
  16. ^ Wakelyn & Wan 2003, p. 366: "[C]ommercial hexane, which contains 52% n-hexane and a mixture of hexane isomers (see composition below), does not cause peripheral nerve damage in animals."
  17. ^ Galvin 1997, p. 83: "The sum total of this mandated testing program indicates that C. hexane is a relatively safe chemical. It is not a neurotoxicant (as is pure n-hexane). It does not cause cancer in rodents in a mechanism relevant to humans as demonstrated by these studies. Commercial hexane has gone through an extensive EPA-mandated testing program. All the tests to date have shown C. hexane to be rather innocuous."
  18. ^ Ball & Burch 2024: "While all oils contain varying levels of fatty acids, some argue an excessive intake of a specific omega-6 fatty acid in seed oils called 'linoleic acid' may contribute to inflammation in the body."
  19. ^ Myles 2014, p. 4: "Thus, another potential contributor to modern diet-induced immune dysfunction may be the increased consumption of omega-6 in lieu of omega-3 fatty acids."
  20. ^ Harvard University 2019: "The critics argue that we should cut back on our intake of omega-6 fats to improve the ratio of omega-3 to omega-6s."
  21. ^ Harvard University 2022: "'Cooking with seed oils at home isn’t an issue.'"
  22. ^ Lusas et al. 2017, p. 902: "Canola oil, which contains less than 2% erucic acid compared with 20-40% in earlier rapeseeds, was granted GRAS (generally recognized as safe) status by the US-FDA in 1985"
    Eskin et al. 2020, p. 5: "In 1985, canola received Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status in the United States"
  23. ^ Su et al. 2017; Marklund et al. 2019.
  24. ^ Ajabnoor et al. 2021.
  25. ^ Dennett 2023, p. 18: "What antiseed oil influencers miss is that arachidonic acid also is a building block for compounds that fight inflammation. The inflammatory claims mostly are based on research in rodents, but mice and rats don’t respond to linoleic acid the same way humans do. In fact, human research has found that linoleic acid isn’t inflammatory overall."
  26. ^ Harvard University 2019: "In a science advisory that was two years in the making, nine independent researchers from around the country, including three from Harvard, say that data from dozens of studies support the cardiovascular benefits of eating omega-6 fats."
  27. ^ Harris et al. 2009, p. 904: "The data also suggest that higher intakes appear to be safe and may be even more beneficial (as part of a low–saturated-fat, low-cholesterol diet). In summary, the AHA supports an omega-6 PUFA intake of at least 5% to 10% of energy in the context of other AHA lifestyle and dietary recommendations. To reduce omega-6 PUFA intakes from their current levels would be more likely to increase than to decrease risk for CHD."
  28. ^ Petersen 2024: "Seed oils, especially safflower oil, sunflower oil, corn oil and soybean oil, are rich in a kind of unsaturated fat called omega-6. Scientific studies have found that when people swap out some of the saturated fats in their diets (from foods such as butter and red meat) and replace them with omega-6 fats, their levels of LDL cholesterol (the 'bad' cholesterol) lower. Their risk of heart attacks and death from cardiac events also drops."
  29. ^ Carleton 2022: "Like Bitcoin itself, the anti-seed oil stance reflects a skepticism of authority, one that is often not unfounded in the least but which can quickly snowball, echoed and amplified online. And if there's one cohort ready to embrace that sort of skepticism and roll that ball themselves, it's the crypto community."
  30. ^ Tung, Tsay & Lin 2015; Louis et al. 2007.
  31. ^ Finke 2022, p. 95: "Knowing that Reddit’s platform discourages users from posting potentially unlikeable statements, seeing the number of posts which contain lower lengths of adherence points to length of adherence not being a factor which bars a user from community membership."
  32. ^ Finke 2022, p. 9: "However, Reddit has always catered to and housed niche communities, so this doesn’t necessarily negate the importance of Joe Rogan and Dom D’Agostino in keto's current popularity."
  33. ^ Easter 2019: "Searching for a lose-it-quick plan, the rapidly becoming-less-fat guy explained, he’d gone to Reddit"
  34. ^ Dickson 2023: "It's particularly common among right-wing or right-wing-adjacent circles, where the fear over seed oils has almost achieved meme status"
  35. ^ Hitchens 2023: "His followers include a chunk of the podcast-loving, seed-oil-skeptical, raw-milk-drinking crowd."
  36. ^ Eckstein 2024a: "Kennedy, who spent tens of minutes ranting about seed oils, estrogen and pharmaceutical companies, also promoted in his speech the same conspiracy theories against vaccines that he’s lobbed for years."
  37. ^ Eckstein 2024b: "'Don’t you want a president that's going to make America healthy again?' the famously vaccine-skeptic Kennedy asked, hours after blaming seed oils and processed foods for America's position during the Trump administration as a world leader in COVID deaths."

Bibliography

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Academic works

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  • Ajabnoor, Sarah M.; Thorpe, Gabrielle; Abdelhamid, Asmaa; Hooper, Lee (2021). "Long-term effects of increasing omega-3, omega-6 and total polyunsaturated fats on inflammatory bowel disease and markers of inflammation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". European Journal of Nutrition. 60 (5): 2293–2316. doi:10.1007/s00394-020-02413-y. PMID 33084958.
  • Cravotto, Christian; Fabiano-Tixier, Anne-Sylvie; Claux, Ombéline; Abert-Vian, Maryline; Tabasso, Silvia; Cravotto, Giancarlo; Chemat, Farid (2022). "Towards substitution of hexane as extraction solvent of food products and ingredients with no regrets". Foods. 11 (21): 3412. doi:10.3390/foods11213412.
  • Eskin, Michael N. A.; Aladedunye, Felix; Unger, Ernie H.; Shah, Saleh; Chen, Guanquin; Jones, Peter J. (2020). "Canola oil". In Shahidi, Fereidoon (ed.). Bailey's Industrial Oil and Fat Products. Wiley. pp. 1–63. doi:10.1002/047167849X.bio004.pub2. ISBN 978-0-471-38460-1.
  • Finke, Sabrina (2022). Framing, Advice-Seeking, and Medical Trust in the r/Keto Community: An Analysis of the Medical Flair on r/Keto (M.A. thesis). University of Denver.
  • Galvin, Jennifer B. (1997). "Toxicity data for commercial hexane and hexane isomers". In Wan, Peter J.; Wakelyn, Phillip J. (eds.). Technology and Solvents for Extracting Oilseeds and Nonpetroleum Oils. Champaign, Illinois: AOCS Press. pp. 75–85. ISBN 978-0-935315-81-3. OCLC 37761985. OL 19223158W.
  • Louis, Winnifred; Davies, Sarah; Smith, Joanne; Terry, Deborah (2007). "Pizza and pop and the student identity: The role of referent group norms in healthy and unhealthy eating". The Journal of Social Psychology. 147 (1): 57–74. doi:10.3200/SOCP.147.1.57-74. PMID 17345922.
  • Lusas, Edmund W.; Riaz, M. N.; Alam, M. S.; Clough, R. (2017). "Animal and vegetable fats, oils, and waxes". In Kent, James A.; Bommaraju, Tilak V.; Barnicki, Scott D. (eds.). Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp. 823–932. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-52287-6_14. ISBN 978-3-319-52285-2. OCLC 999636728. OL 19854408W.
  • Harris, William S.; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Rimm, Eric; Kris-Etherton, Penny; Rudel, Lawrence L.; Appel, Lawrence J.; Engler, Marguerite M.; Engler, Mary B.; Sacks, Frank (2009). "Omega-6 fatty acids and risk for cardiovascular disease: a science advisory from the American Heart Association Nutrition Subcommittee of the Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism; Council on Cardiovascular Nursing; and Council on Epidemiology and Prevention". Circulation. 119 (6): 902–907. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.191627. PMID 19171857.
  • Marklund, Matti; Wu, Jason H.Y.; Imamura, Fumiaki; Del Gobbo, Liana C.; Fretts, Amanda; de Goede, Janette; Shi, Peilin; Tintle, Nathan; Wennberg, Maria; Aslibekyan, Stella; Chen, Tzu-An; de Oliveira Otto, Marcia C.; Hirakawa, Yoichiro; Eriksen, Helle Højmark; Kröger, Janine; Laguzzi, Federica; Lankinen, Maria; Murphy, Rachel A.; Prem, Kiesha; Samieri, Cécilia; Virtanen, Jyrki; Wood, Alexis C.; Wong, Kerry; Yang, Wei-Sin; Zhou, Xia; Baylin, Ana; Boer, Jolanda M.A.; Brouwer, Ingeborg A.; Campos, Hannia; Chaves, Paulo H. M.; Chien, Kuo-Liong; de Faire, Ulf; Djoussé, Luc; Eiriksdottir, Gudny; El-Abbadi, Naglaa; Forouhi, Nita G.; Michael Gaziano, J.; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Gigante, Bruna; Giles, Graham; Guallar, Eliseo; Gudnason, Vilmundur; Harris, Tamara; Harris, William S.; Helmer, Catherine; Hellenius, Mai-Lis; Hodge, Allison; Hu, Frank B.; Jacques, Paul F.; Jansson, Jan-Håkan; Kalsbeek, Anya; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Koh, Woon-Puay; Laakso, Markku; Leander, Karin; Lin, Hung-Ju; Lind, Lars; Luben, Robert; Luo, Juhua; McKnight, Barbara; Mursu, Jaakko; Ninomiya, Toshiharu; Overvad, Kim; Psaty, Bruce M.; Rimm, Eric; Schulze, Matthias B.; Siscovick, David; Skjelbo Nielsen, Michael; Smith, Albert V.; Steffen, Brian T.; Steffen, Lyn; Sun, Qi; Sundström, Johan; Tsai, Michael Y.; Tunstall-Pedoe, Hugh; Uusitupa, Matti I. J.; van Dam, Rob M.; Veenstra, Jenna; Monique Verschuren, W.M.; Wareham, Nick; Willett, Walter; Woodward, Mark; Yuan, Jian-Min; Micha, Renata; Lemaitre, Rozenn N.; Mozaffarian, Dariush; Risérus, Ulf (2019). "Biomarkers of dietary omega-6 fatty acids and incident cardiovascular disease and mortality: An individual-level pooled analysis of 30 cohort studies". Circulation. 139 (21): 2422–2436. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.118.038908. PMID 30971107.
  • Myles, Ian A. (2014). "Fast food fever: reviewing the impacts of the Western diet on immunity". Nutrition Journal. 13 (61). doi:10.1186/1475-2891-13-61. PMC 4074336. PMID 24939238.
  • Su, Hang; Liu, Ruijie; Chang, Ming; Huang, Jianhua; Wang, Xingguo (2017). "Dietary linoleic acid intake and blood inflammatory markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials". Food & Function. 8 (9): 3091–3103. doi:10.1039/C7FO00433H. PMID 28752873.
  • Tung, Shih-Jui; Tsay, Jenner C.; Lin, Meng-Chu (2015). "Life course, diet-related identity and consumer choice of organic food in Taiwan". British Food Journal. 117 (2): 688–704. doi:10.1108/BFJ-11-2013-0334.
  • Wakelyn, Phillip J.; Wan, Peter J. (2003). "Solvent extraction: Safety, health, and environmental issues". In Tzia, Constantina; Liadakis, George (eds.). Extraction Optimization in Food Engineering. New York: Marcel Dekker, Inc. pp. 359–396. doi:10.1201/9780824756185-19. ISBN 978-0-429-16457-6. OCLC 54108923. OL 19618454W.
  • Wakelyn, Phillip J.; Wan, Peter J. (2006). "Solvent extraction to obtain edible oil products". In Akoh, Casimir C. (ed.). Handbook of Functional Lipids. Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals Series. Boca Raton, Florida: Taylor & Francis. pp. 89–131. ISBN 978-0-8493-2162-7. OCLC 86117425. OL 19126779W.

Newspapers and magazines

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Web sources

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Primary sources

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