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Meet Sally!
In this video Sally will give you an introduction to the blog about omega 6.
Intro
Processing seed oils
Did you know …
- Omega 6 fatty acids are a family of polyunsaturated fatty acids that have the first carbon-carbon double bond in the 6 position, counting from the omega / methyl end
- The best known family members are:
– Linoleic acid / LA
– Gamma-linolenic acid / GLA
– Dihomo-gamma-linolenic acid / DGLA
– Arachidonic acid / AA
- Omega 6 fats are considered essential, which means the body can’t make them (no recipe on the DNA) so we must obtain them through our diet.
- Omega 6 fats are primarily pro-inflammatory and blood clotting, which makes them essential for survival.
- Too much Omega 6 fat will lead to increased inflammation and blood clots.
- When we eat Omega 6 fats we primarily eat a fat called Linoleic Acid / LA
- LA fatty acids are found in abundance in the flowing seed oils:
– Safflower oil
– Sunflower oil
– Corn/Maize oil
– Soybean oil
– Cotton seed oil
– Pumpkin seed Oil
– Grape seed oil
– Nut oils
- LA is also found in varying levels in all plant foods.
- Until the beginning of the 1900’s dietary fats consisted of saturated animal fats, such as butter, beef fat and lard and monounsaturated fats like olive oil.
- From 1909–1999, consumption of soybean oil in the US increased by more than 1,000-fold per person.
- Margarine consumption increased 12-fold.
- Most LA is coming from seed oils, which is used in most processed foods and condiments, but chicken and pork also contain higher amounts of LA than previously thanks to the grains they’re fed and many restaurants use these oils as they have very high smoke points and are very cheap.
- We actually call them Industrial seed oils.
- Industrial seed oils contain fats that are oxidized or structurally damaged. This occurs from the industrial processing, during storage, or when they’re re-heated and used for cooking. Industrial seed oils are created from the refining of seeds, using solvents and other chemicals and very high temperatures. Industrial seed oils are hard to avoid as they are in nearly everything, from packaged snacks and fast food to 5-star restaurants and baby formula. If you want to avoid them do as much of your cooking as possible.
- The increase in plant and seed oil consumption likely originated from research published in the 1950s that unveiled the supposed connection between saturated fat and heart disease.
- This research in particular by Ancel Keys – Seven countries study which cherry picked the 7 countries out of the original 22 to emphasize the connection.
- As a result butter and lard consumption has decreased four-fold and the consumption of seed oils steadily increased throughout the world.
- YET heart disease is still the number 1 killer in the world. Not to forget the increase of several chronic diseases, including diabetes, autoimmune disease, macular degeneration, and neurological disease.
- As our consumption of omega-6 has increased, so too has the amount of omega-6 (linoleic acid) in our fat cells.
- In 1960, our fat cells contained only 7–9% omega-6.
- In 2008 they contained over 23%.
- Today it’s probably closer to 30% omega-6 today.
- Omega 6 fats, unlike animal fats, lack vitamins A, D and K, so they are nutrient deficient.
- Up to 80 grams of omega 6 a day is what Americans consume ie up to 720 calories. Which means that1/3 of most people’s calories are coming out of factories.
- In the words of John Lonnadis, renowned Stanford professor and evidence-based medicine researcher – ‘at best, seed oils come with potential risks and offer no unique benefits, and at worst, could be driving major declines in public health around the world’.
- More information – Zeroacre
- More information – Jeff Nobbs
- More information – Paul Saladino
- More information – Tucker Goodrich
Omega 6 Fatty Acids 101
- Are a family of fats with the first carbon to carbon double bond on the 6th position from the omega end of the fatty acid.
- Are essential fatty acids ie. the body can’t make them and therefore they must be obtained through the diet
- Are found predominantly in plant foods
- Are very unstable and easily oxidise
The Family
Linoleic Acid/LA
- LA is the dominant omega 6 fat
- LA is a long-chained fat with 2 double bonds
- LA is very unstable and doesn’t tolerate heat and is very prone to oxidation
- LA is pro-inflammatory
- LA is the mother fat converting to several extra-long chained fats that both promote and block inflammation
LA found in
- Soybean, cottonseeds, rapeseed, sunflower seeds, safflower seeds, grape seeds
- Maize grains and other grains
- Nuts
- Plant and seed oils and margarines
Gamma Linolenic Acid/GLA
- Produced from LA
- Is essential for maintaining brain function, skeletal health, reproductive health, and metabolism.
- It’s also essential for stimulating skin and hair growth.
- It reduce inflammation.
- Some studies even suggest that GLA protects DNA.
GLA found in
- Borage oil
- Evening Primrose
- Breast milk
- From LA
Dihomo-γ-linolenic acid/DGLA
- Made from GLA
- Produces anti-inflammatory eicosanoids
- Plays a role in the body’s metabolism of fat.
- It is believed to be beneficial for cardiovascular health and also good for the brain.
DGLA found in
- DGLA is an extremely uncommon fatty acid, found only in trace amounts in animal products, such as lamb testes, beef live, butter chicken skin, beef kidney
- From GLA
Arachidonic Acid/AA
- Can be converted from DGLA
- Is a precursor to a wide range of eicosanoids both proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory
- Supports Omega 3 Development of the Brain development in small children
- Is one of the most abundant fatty acids in the brain, and is present in similar quantities to Omega 3 fatty acid Docosahexaenoic acid/DHA. These two account for about 20% of the brains fatty-acid content (mostly cell membranes) and neurological health is reliant upon sufficient levels of AA and DHA
- Promotes the repair and growth of skeletal muscle tissue
- Contraction of the uterine wall – menstruation and birth
AA found in
- Animal fats
- Animal organs
- Egg yolks
- Some shellfish
Conjugated linoleic acids/CLA
- Converted from linoleic acid mainly by gut bacteria Bifidobacterium
- May effect insulin response and metabolic health
- Found to inhibit chemically-induced cancer in mice.
CLA found in
- Beef and dairy from grass fed animals
- Technically a trans-fat, but very different from the industrial trans fats that harm your health.
Linoleic Acid/LA 101
- Initially isolated from linseed oil in 1844, by Swiss scientist Frédéric Sacc.
- Until 1929, no one suspected that dietary fatty acids were ‘essential’ for humans (or other animals) because it was already known that fats could be synthesized/produced in the body from other nutrients such as carbohydrates.
- But the first convincing evidence came in the 1950s, when researchers noted skin abnormalities in infants fed a low-fat diet that resolved when linoleic acid was added.
- LA is an essential omega 6 fatty acid, required in small amounts approx. 1-2% of total calories and deficiencies are extremely rare.
- Today the average person eats 6-10% or more of their calories from LA due to increasing consumption of seed and vegetable oils.
- LA occurs naturally in a wide variety of plant foods, especially nuts, seeds, and seed oils
- Excessive LA intake is associated with inflammation, obesity, heart disease, and more.
- Excess LA is stored in cell membranes and fat tissue
- Fortunately, it’s possible to reduce your stored tissue LA by avoiding seed oils and processed and or prepared foods with high LA levels.
- Other practices like exercise and intermittent fasting may speed up LA excretion, but only in connection with a low LA diet.
- LA is liquid at room temperature, colourless or lightly straw-coloured, and flavourless or slightly bitter
- It’s molecularly unstable and prone to oxidizing/breaking down into inflammatory, obesogenic by-products during production, storage and re-heating, and the bitter taste increases when it becomes rancid – see the article LA By-Products
- Another name for LA is C18:2 or C18:2n6 due to its chemical structure, which contains 18 carbon atoms and two double bonds.
- It’s a polyunsaturated fatty acid/PUFA because it contains more than one carbon to carbon double bond. In contrast, monounsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in olive oil, which only have one carbon to carbon double bond.
Linoleic Acid By-products
- Linoleic acid is very unstable
- It oxidizes and breaks down into other compounds
- These compounds are even more inflammatory and damaging
- These processes occur during the industrial manufacturing and high-heat cooking of seed oils
- Can also occur within your body when excess linoleic acid
By-products – Aldehydes
- 9-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acid – 9-HODE
- 13-hydroxy-octadecadienoic acid (13-HODE)
- 9-oxo-octadecadienoic acid (9-oxoODE)
- 9-oxo-octadecadienoic acid (13-oxoODE)
- 4-Hydroxynonenal – 4HNE
These by-products are closely linked with
- Cardiovascular disease – more abundant in the LDL of patients with atherosclerosis compared to controls
- Chronic pain
- Alzheimer’s dementia
- Fatty liver disease
- Obesity.
Is Linoleic Acid Good or Bad?
- It’s the amount that makes the poison
The Good
- Low amounts of 1-2% linoleic acid are necessary for survival
The Bad
- Research links higher intakes to health problems, including
– Inflammation
– heart disease
– cancer
– dementia and other neurological disorders
– diabetes
– obesity
- The average person today is eating far more linoleic acid than at any other time in history.
- Until the 20th century, most people didn’t consume vegetable oils or seed oils high in linoleic acid — they easily obtained the necessary amounts from nuts and grains, and trace amounts in other foods, including meat, eggs, and dairy.
- According to a paper from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, per capita consumption of soybean oil (which contains approximately 55% linoleic acid) increased 1000-fold from 1909 to 1999.
- As a direct result of eating more oils high in linoleic acid, most people are now consuming 6-10% or more of their calories from linoleic acid, and nutritional surveys suggest intakes will continue to increase.
- This is a problem because it’s an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid, which is inherently unstable.
- It oxidizes (breaks down) more readily than most other fats – during manufacturing, storage, transportation, and cooking as well as in your body after you eat it.
- LA is incorporated directly into cell membranes, and it bio-accumulates (builds up) over time, resulting in cell disruption, instability and inflammation.
- LA also accumulates in fat tissue in general.
- Because humans are monogastric (one stomach) mammals just like pigs and chickens, we don’t dispose of these fatty acids very quickly/easily.
- If you’ve been eating seed oils for the last 10, 20 or 30 years, you are basically full of seed oils.
- The half-life of linoleic acid in your body is approx. 680 days, which means removing LA takes patience and persistence.
- Excess intake of LA also creates an imbalance between omega-6 and omega-3 fats in your body and depletes anti-inflammatory omega-3s in tissues.
- Researchers think that humans naturally evolved to consume an equal ratio of these fats, but many people today now consume 20 times higher levels of omega-6 than omega-3 fats.
In Short
- Eating too much LA disrupts healthy cellular function and contributes to inflammation
- Over-consuming inflammatory omega-6 LA can reduce tissue levels of anti-inflammatory omega-3s, causing more inflammation.
Do I Need to Worry About Linoleic Acid Deficiency
- Heck yes it’s an essential fatty acid (EFA), which means we can’t make it and therefore have to obtain it through our diet.
How much do we need?
- Researchers estimate that we need around 1-2% of our daily calorie intake from linoleic acid to prevent deficiency.
- For an adult eating 2,000 calories per day, that’s approximately 2-3 grams of linoleic acid per day.
- Average intake documented today is approx. 6-10% or higher.
- This makes it highly unlikely that anyone is deficient in linoleic acid.
- Get healthy amounts of dietary linoleic acid without consuming harmful oxidized linoleic acid from seed oils.
- The majority of animal products, nuts, grains, and veggies contain small amounts of linoleic acid — which all quickly add up.
Various foods and their Linoleic Acid content
- 30g almonds – over 4 grams
- A normal-sized fresh avocado – 3.4 grams.
- 15g dried sunflower kernels – over 3 grams
- 15g pecans – approx. 3 grams
- 15g dehulled sesame seeds – over 2.5 grams.
- 30g raw cashews – 2.2 grams
- 15g shelled pistachios – under 2 grams
- 100g meat of a roasted chicken thigh – just under 1.5 grams
- 15g dried chia seeds – 0.83 grams
- 100g cooked, skinless chicken breast – 0.6 grams
- Many other foods contain trace amounts of linoleic acid, which is why deficiency is so rare, even if you intentionally avoid LA.
Omega 6 and Obesity
- Over-consuming vegetable oils, specifically seed oils, which contain evolutionarily unprecedented amounts of the omega-6 fat linoleic acid/LA, can cause obesity.
- Obesity is a systemic problem, not a result of the loss of personal willpower to cut calories or an unwillingness to exercise.
- If weight loss were as easy as deciding to ignore hunger signals and taking the stairs instead of the elevator, obesity rates would be declining, which is not the case.
- 42.4% obese in the U.S
- 27.8% of adults in UK are obese and a further 37.9% are overweight but not obese.
- 2022 statistics show 1 in 5 American children are obese.
- Every population or nation consuming seed and vegetable oils has seen obesity rates climb.
- While not every individual gets obese as a result of seed and vegetable oil consumption, it appears populations do.
- By analogy, not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, but every population that starts smoking sees increased lung cancer rates.
- Possible cause:
– Linoleic acid makes fat cells more sensitive to insulin, which diverts energy toward fat storage rather than fat-loss
– Linoleic acid breaks down into the obesogenic toxin aldehyde HNE (4-Hydroxynonenal), which alter the metabolic cycle and damage fat cells, resulting in fat gain. Research shows reducing HNE reduced body fat accumulation, even without reducing total food intake. BTW HNE is only derived from the breakdown of omega 6 fats, primarily LA.
– Genetic mutations in gene ALDH2, called ALDH2*2 reduces the ability to detoxify aldehydes like HNE, thereby leading to significantly increased HNE levels, increased fat storage and obesity.
– Linoleic acid activates the body’s own (endo)cannabinoid system, that may interfere with hunger signals leading to the ‘munchies’ for more of the foods that are rich in seed oil aka junk food, thus causing us to crave even more. This cycle can be reversed with increased intake of EPA and DHA fats aka fish oils.
– For many animals, the natural, seasonal increases in linoleic acid consumption are a signal to fatten up and hibernate, ie. availability of nuts in autumn/winter.
– So I guess we can say eating junk food does increases weight, but due to a more in depth reason than too many empty calories aka sugar.
Omega 6 and Oxidative Stress
- High levels of omega-6 fatty acids can also create oxidative stress.
- Oxidative stress is the result of the accumulation of free radicals
- Free radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions that have lost an electron and have at least one unpaired electron.
- Unpaired electrons are never a good thing, as their one and only goal is to find a partner to pair up with again.
- Free radicals wreak havoc on your body by stealing electrons from other cells, leaving a lot of cellular damage in their wake.
- Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between your body’s production of free radicals and the antioxidant compounds needed to combat them.
- Antioxidants play a crucial role in ‘de-activating’ free radicals by freely giving an electron without becoming a free radical themselves.
- Once the free radical pairs with an electron from an antioxidant it no longer causes damage.
- Seed oils are highly reactive and more prone to oxidation than other fats and therefore require endless antioxidants
- The more seed oils you consume, the more free radicals in your body, resulting in more cellular damage.
- Once oxidized, omega-6 fats (especially linoleic acid) also produce toxic by-products such as 4HNE that has been linked to several chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart disease, liver disease and obesity.
Linoleic Acid and Cholesterol
- Cholesterol is a type of fat important for many functions in the body, such as
– Cell membranes
– Steroid hormones
– Vit D
- Cholesterol is transported in the blood on carrier proteins (buses) called LDL or HDL, along with storage fats called triglycerides, and the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
- Triglycerides are composed of 3 fats bound together and the fatty acids can be saturated or unsaturated.
- Review studies show
– If cholesterol is bound with saturated fat it does not readily oxidise
– If it is bound with linoleic acid it does
– When testing lipids from human atherosclerotic plaques more contained oxidised cholesteryl linoleate (cholesterol esters containing linoleic acid)
– And the severity of atherosclerosis is noted to increase with increasing oxidised cholesteryl linoleate
- In other words, cholesterol is protected from oxidation if bound to saturated fat but susceptible to oxidation if bound to linoleic acid.
- Again, this suggests is that eating more linoleic acid increases the oxidation of cholesterol within LDL particles further increasing atherosclerosis formation and the risk of coronary heart disease.
- Ask your doctor to measure Oxidised LDL
- A 2022 mouse study demonstrated that modified soybean oil with less linoleic acid and more monounsaturated oleic acid caused a smaller decrease in VLDL and LDL cholesterol than the diet containing conventional soybean oil, but it led to much lower levels of plaque build-up in the animals’ arteries
- Not only do those findings suggest that the modified soybean oil may be better for cardiovascular health than the conventional version, but they also appear to contradict the long-held belief that lower levels of blood cholesterol reduce the development of plaques in blood vessels.
Statistics about Seed Oils
- Global production of vegetable oils has increased over 1600% since the early 1900s.
- Global production has doubled in the last 20 years, and is expected to grow 30% in the next four years.
- Over the last 150 years, the Omega 6 / LA in the human diet has increased from about 2 to 3 grams a day to 30 or 40 grams.
- LA used to make up 1% – 3% of the energy in the human diet and now it makes up 15% to 20%.
- Before modern diets and lifestyles, chronic diseases were rare. Could the rise in industrial seed oil consumption have anything to do with it?
- Seed/Vegetable oils account for up to 30% of global crop lands, but deliver less than 0.01% of the world’s important nutrients.
- Of all major food crops in the world, seed oils provide by far the least nutrition per kilogram, comparable only to sugar.
- Rapeseed, sunflower, soybean, and palm oil are some of the most environmentally destructive crops in the world.
- More land is devoted to growing seed oil crops than all fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, roots and tubers combined.
- 2 of the top 3 drivers of global deforestation are seed oil crops.
- Seed oils crops emit more greenhouse gases per kilogram than any other major crop.
- Approx 12% of all habitable land on Earth, over 1.5 billion hectares, is dedicated to food crops for human consumption.
- A few hundred years ago it was 200–300 million hectares.
- Cereal grains contribute most to land use.
- Seed oil crops are second, and growing significantly faster than cereals, or any other crop.
- In fact land area for seed oil crops has nearly tripled since 1961, and more than doubled since the 1970s.
- During that same time, land area for other crops like cereals has stayed relatively flat.
- Seed oils are the worst when it comes to land use efficiency ie how much land is required to produce one kilogram of food product.
- Seed oils require as much as 3–50 times more land to produce their food product aka oil than most other crops.
- An area of land used to grow one kilogram of “seed” oil from soybean, rapeseed, or sunflower could instead produce 30–50 kilograms of actual vegetables, like spinach, sweet potatoes, and carrots.
- Deforestation (the burning or clearing of natural ecosystems in order to make room for human activities) drives a loss in biodiversity and is the second largest contributor to global warming, after fossil fuel combustion.
- Every minute, the equivalent of 40 football fields of rainforest is destroyed by deforestation, primarily for agriculture.
- Two of the top three drivers of global deforestation are soybean and palm oil crops.
- It takes 34kg of corn to produce one litre of corn oil.
- It takes 50kg of grape seeds to produce one litre of grapeseed oils, which is roughly two tons of grapes.
- It takes 4–5 kg sunflower seeds for 1 litre of sunflower oil.
- The area of land to make 1 tonne sunflower oil (which is approx. 1150 litres) is 1.38 hectares/3.4 acres, which is approx. the size of 2 football pitches.
- The production volume of vegetable oil in 2021/2022 exceeded 200 million metric tons worldwide.
- Which surmounts to a heck of a lot of land hectares/acres.
The Rise of PUFA’s
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils and plant oils, are a relatively recent invention
- The oils include:
– Cottonseed
– Rapeseed
– Sunflower
– Safflower
– Rice bran
– Soybean
– Corn / Maise
- PUFAs came to existence through “roller mill technology”
- The first of the PUFAs created was cottonseed oil.
- This was soon followed by the hydrogenation and partial hydrogenation of cottonseed oil, producing the first ever artificially created trans-fat.
- Proctor & Gamble introduce the first trans-fat in 1911 under the name ‘Crisco,’ which was marketed as ‘the healthier alternative to lard’ (and more economical than butter).
- Crisco, the grandfather of commercially produced PUFAs and trans fats, is still widely sold today, although the cottonseed oil is replaced with palm, soy and rapeseed oils.
- Cottonseed oil is still one of the most widely consumed oils in the US as a routine ingredient in processed foods, and is commonplace in restaurant fryers.
- The plan of vegetable oil producers, was to undersell and replace animal fats and the plan was successful.
- PUFAs became so popular that they now make up 63% of the American diet and are found in 600,000 processed foods sold in the U.S. today.
- In 1909, Americans ate 2 grams a day of vegetable oil, by 2010 they were eating an astounding 80 grams of vegetable oil a day.
Seed Oil 101
- Seed oils, often called industrial seed oils
- Are a subset of vegetable/plant oils
- Are derived from seeds of the plant
- Are typically higher in linoleic acid/LA
- Are detrimental for your health
- Ideally, you should limit your seed oil intake to none
- However, our food supply is riddled with these oils, and it may be challenging to cut them all out completely
- Especially considering that most restaurants, from fast food to five-star establishments, use them in almost every dish.
Worst LA Offenders
- Grapeseed oil – 66 – 75.3%
- Safflower oil – 70%
- Sunflower oil – 66%
- Soybean oil – 55%
- Cottonseed oil – 53%
- Corn oil – 60%
- Rice bran oil – 30%
- Peanut oil – 25 – 29%
- Rapeseed oil – 17 – 21%.
Refining Seed Oils
- Although refining has a positive ring to it actually isn’t when we’re talking about foods
- When talking about foods anything refined is actually processed, often with the use of chemicals and the removal of nutrients.
- Cold pressed olive, avocado and coconut oils undergo minimal processing and therefore a better choice
- All other oils from seeds and grains are not suitable for cold pressing, and undergo many steps beyond the mere mechanical extraction to produce a bland, clear oil unfortunately full of rancid Omega 6 fats.
The Refining Process
- Cleaning and grinding the seeds and grains
- Extracting additional oil with solvents, such as the alcohol ethanol or other chemicals like hexane
- Removing traces of the solvent by heating the oil
- Refining the oil – removing colour, odour and bitterness by mixing in alkaline substances such as sodium hydroxide or sodium carbonate, centrifuging, washing then heating again
- Degummed which is removing fats called phospholipids and free fatty acids from the oils. These make the oil more unstable with a shorter shelf life. This done with heat approx. 85 – 95 degrees C.
- If the oil is for cooking it is then bleached
- If the oil is for salad dressings etc it is ‘Winterized’ which is rapid chilling and filtering to remove ‘waxes’ which are saturated fats
- Deodorization with hot steam 225 – 250 degrees C
- Citric acid or other chemical preservatives are added to enhance the shelf life, which could include the carcinogenic compounds BHT and BHA
- Packaging in plastic or glass bottles.
Seed Oil Regulation
- Most seed oils entered into usage during a time of minimal food regulation.
- Modern food legislation authorities worldwide weren’t established until the middle of the 20th century.
- Yet common seed oils entered into mass industrial production for human consumption:
– Corn oil – 1898-1899
– Cottonseed oil – late 19th century
– Peanut oil -1930s
– Safflower oil – 940s
– Refined soybean oil – mid-20th century
– Refined sunflower oil – 1946
- This means that on the basis of their widespread use before 1958, most of these seed oils automatically meet the criteria ‘Generally recognized as safe’ (GRAS).
- The GRAS categorisation is based on chemical composition, fatty acid profile, heavy metal risks, and potential allergens, which are important factors for understanding acute toxicity risks – but with seed oils it’s more the dose that makes the poison.
- So the fact of the matter is seed oils never underwent rigorous safety testing for premarket approval, gained approval based on their past usage.
Are Seed Oils Toxic?
What is toxicity
- Toxicity can occur in the entire body or locally
- Toxicity can be reversible or non-reversible
- Toxicity can be acute or chronic
- Toxicity can kill you immediately or slowly over time.
Examples of toxicity
- Artificial trans fats won’t kill you with a single serving but increased intake is now considered toxic because they significantly increase the risk of heart attack and stroke
- In fact artificial trans fats are now banned from food in the United States, Brazil, and Europe.
- Repeated exposure to the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes is associated with CVD.
So are Seed Oils toxic?
- With increased, repeated intake and accumulation – heck yes
- Remember intake has gone from 1-2% to 6-10% or more over the last hundred years
How might Seed Oil toxicity show up?
- With the combination of inflammation, oxidation, cell membrane disturbance, and chemical additives, it should come as no surprise that seed oils are associated with a handful of health issues, such as:
– Autoimmune diseases
– Heart disease
– Alzheimer’s disease
– Diabetes
– Macular Degeneration
– Obesity
– Metabolic syndrome
– High blood pressure
– Cancer
– Mitochondrial dysfunction.
How to Eliminate Seed Oils from Your Diet?
- Linoleic acid and omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) are essential and need to be approx. 1-2% of your total daily calorie intake.
- BUT you don’t have to eat industrial seed oils at all to meet your dietary requirements – see the article Do I need to worry about Linoleic Acid deficiency.
- Quite the contrary by eliminating them, you’ll avoid oxidized linoleic acid and other harmful, inflammatory by-products that are associated with so many health problems.
- AND Seed oils aren’t especially tasty —neutral at best or rancid at worst — so you won’t miss them.
How
- Don’t eat anything with a label on it.
- At least look for canola, corn, cottonseed, grapeseed, peanut, rice bran, safflower, soybean, sunflower, and “vegetable” oil on labels.
- They’re in most processed and packaged foods and unfortunately most restaurant meals.
- Learn to meal prep using healthy fat sources.
- Ask a lot of questions at your favourite restaurants.
- Unfortunately, increased levels of linoleic acid can also show up in animal products like pork, poultry, fish, and eggs as these animals are fed grains, soybeans, and cheap feed containing industrial seed oils.
- Although these animal products are not as big a problem as industrial seed oils, focusing on grass-fed, pastured, and wild-caught when possible is another way to reduce linoleic acid intake.
Which Oils and Fats are Healthiest?
In general
- Chose fats and oils.
- With higher heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.
- With higher smoke points for cooking.
- That are environmentally more friendly.
- There is no “perfect” oil or fat for everyone but the following absolutely better than seed oils and have merits and downfalls.
Avocado Oil
- Extra virgin avocado oil has a higher smoke point between 428-482°F.
- Contains 13.4% linoleic acid.
- High in monounsaturated fat oleic acid/Omega 9 and vitamin E.
- Avocado farming is significantly environmentally negative effects due to land use, water consumption, and biodiversity loss.
Coconut Oil
- Heat stable with a smoke point of about 375°F.
- Contains as little as 2% linoleic acid.
- Strong coconut taste makes it unsuitable for some dishes.
- Significant environmental impact with a loss of tropical biodiversity.
Olive Oil
- Relatively high smoke point 325 – 375°F.
- Contains up to 21% linoleic acid.
- High in monounsaturated fat Oleic acid/Omega 9.
- Resistant to damaging oxidation during frying.
- Beware of counterfeit or adulterated oils, which are often mixed with cheap seed oils.
- Environmentally greedy in terms of land use and water consumption.
Butter
- A lower smoke point 300F / 148C.
- Contains approx. 2% linoleic acid (if the cow was eating grass).
- Contains heart healthy vitamins A and E and important none nutrients Vitamin D and calcium.
- Environmentally butter has a relatively low carbon footprint compared to other foods.
Beef Tallow/Suet/Fat
- A higher smoke point 400°F/205°C.
- Contains approx.. 3% linoleic acid (if the cow is eating grass).
- More than half the fatty acids found in beef fat are monounsaturated fatty acids.
- Contains natural trans fats conjugated linoleic acid/CLA.
- Rich in fat soluble vitamins – A, D, E, and K.
- Has a mild beef flavour.
- Environmentally has the highest carbon footprint.
Cultured Oil
- Made by fermentation.
- A high smoke point of 485°F.
- Low linoleic acid levels – less than 3%.
- High in heart-healthy and heat-stable monounsaturated fat.
- Neutral taste.
- Environmentally supportive – uses 85% less land than canola oil, emits 86% less CO2 than soybean oil, requires 99% less water than olive oil.
- BUY YOUR HERE
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