Is vegetable oil bad for you

Is vegetable oil bad for you? The answer to the question is simple and straightforward, “You probably shouldn’t eat it.“

You probably shouldn’t eat vegetable oil at all

In order to achieve the large amounts of vegetable oils in the American diet, you would have to eat huge amounts of whole foods. You would have to eat 98 pieces of corn to reach the 5 tablespoons of corn oil, which is about the amount of oil in a tortilla in a typical Mexican restaurant.

You would have to eat 2,800 sunflower seeds to reach the amount of sunflower oil in a bag of Pot brand potato chips (about 5 tablespoons). This is the equivalent of ten bags of sunflower seeds.

You would have to eat 5 cups of cooked soybeans, which equates to about 2,500 calories, to reach the equivalent of 5 tablespoons of soybean oil. A typical Thai curry restaurant uses about four tablespoons of soybean oil. This means that for an average 2,000-calorie diet, you would have to eat only a whole soy diet to consume the large amount of soy oil in a Thai curry.

Omega-6 in vegetable oil

To better answer the question of why vegetable oils are bad for your health, we first need to understand what vegetable oils actually are. Vegetable oils are made up of fat molecules, and fat molecules are mostly made up of fatty acids. There are different types of fatty acids, each of which plays a different role in our bodies.

The main fatty acid in most vegetable oils is linoleic acid, which is an Omega-6 fat. The amount of Omega-6 in vegetable oils is the problem with vegetable oils.

Consuming very small amounts of Omega-6 fatty acids is essential, but excessive amounts can lead to systemic inflammation. While chronic inflammation is thought to be at the root of many of the diseases we face today [1], it is only the tip of the iceberg. The unstable, reactive nature of dietary Omega-6 produces many other downstream effects that are causally linked to poor health and chronic diseases, including heart disease. Heart disease is the world’s leading cause of death [2].

As we’ll discuss below, consuming too much Omega-6 is almost inevitable in today’s food system, and it’s also been linked to weight gain, diabetes, osteoarthritis, cancer, cognitive decline, dementia, irritable bowel syndrome, macular degeneration, asthma, and autoimmune diseases.

As we’ll see in the “Omega-6 and Disease” section below, high levels of Omega-6 in our cells have been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases.

Our increasing intake of Omega-6, and the resulting increase in Omega-6 in our cells, is almost entirely attributable to our increasing consumption of vegetable oils.

In vegetable oils such as soybean, sunflower, safflower and grapeseed oils, Omega-6 makes up two-thirds to three-quarters of their weight. In the United States, [3] soybean oil accounts for 45 percent of total Omega-6 intake.

Just as it is impossible to consume large amounts of vegetable oils when eating whole foods, it is difficult to consume large amounts of Omega-6 without vegetable oils. Even the most fatty whole foods have negligible amounts of Omega-6 compared to vegetable oils.

You may be wondering: If Omega-6 is so bad, why is it in healthy, whole foods?

Omega-6 has its uses; We need it for human growth and development.

There is nothing inherently unhealthy about omega-6s; Just like sugar, calories and chocolate, it’s the large doses that are the problem. Very small amounts of Omega-6 can meet growth needs, but too much can lead to weight gain, disease, and accelerated aging.

Currently, we are consuming far more than we need.

Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio

You may have heard of omega-3s, a healthy fat found in salmon, fish oil, and flaxseed. Omega-3 is especially important in today’s world because it “competes” with Omega-6 in the body. In other words, the more Omega-6 you eat, the less Omega-3 your body is able to use.

In general, Omega-3 is anti-inflammatory, while Omega-6 is pro-inflammatory [4].

In addition to promoting inflammation, excessive intake of Omega-6 prevents omega-3s from performing their functions, which include improving the heart, maintaining mental health, shrinking waistlines, reducing liver fat, helping babies with brain development, preventing dementia, promoting bone health, and preventing asthma [5], among other functions.

Therefore, the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 we consume is critical. The human diet evolved to have an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio of about 1:1.

However, today the ratio in the United States is between 10:1 and 20:1, and in some parts of the world it is as high as 50:1, such as in urban areas of India [6,7]. (That means for every gram of Omega-3 fat we eat, we eat 10, 20, or 50 grams of Omega-6 fat.)

Omega-6 and disease

In the United States today, poor heart and mental health, as well as obesity, dementia, autoimmune diseases, and asthma, are all on the rise, and Omega-3, when balanced with Omega-6, prevents precisely these diseases and health problems.

An entire book could be written about the diseases caused by excess Omega-6 and the biological pathways that lead to them. Rather than bore readers with the methods and results of a 700-page research paper, I will address the effects of Omega-6 intake on chronic disease through the conclusions of the study:

Alzheimer’s disease:

This review supports a growing body of evidence showing a positive association between the Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio in the diet and the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. [8]

Autoimmune diseases:

Increasing your intake of Omega-6 or vegetable oils and decreasing your intake of omega-3s may increase the production of free radicals and higher pro-inflammatory cytokines in the body.

“Our ongoing research shows that the pro-inflammatory properties of vegetable oils increase free radical formation by reducing antioxidant enzyme mRNA levels, thereby increasing autoimmune disease and further decreasing immune function, particularly reducing the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-2 and TGF beta mRNA levels. [9]”

Diabetes:

As soybean oil consumption continues to rise worldwide, so does obesity. Because soybean oil is high in unsaturated fats, especially linoleic acid (Omega-6), some believe it is healthy, but it can lead to obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and fatty liver disease. [10]

Recent studies have found a positive association between linoleic acid (Omega-6) and insulin resistance, suggesting that diet may influence the development of obesity, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, and insulin resistance. [11]

Mental health:

“To our knowledge, our data provide the first prospective evidence that Omega-6/Omega-3 ratios are associated with an increased risk of mood disorders in young adults.” [12]

Heart disease:

There is substantial evidence that omega-6 exacerbates oxidative stress, oxidized LDL, chronic low-grade inflammation, and atherosclerosis, and is likely a major dietary factor in congenital heart disease, especially when ingested in the form of vegetable oils.

There is compelling evidence that, in terms of heart health, Omega-3 protects the heart, Omega-6 worsens heart disease, and “high LDL” is only dangerous if consumed on a high-omega-6 diet. Studies have found that patients with heart disease have significantly higher levels of arterial linoleic acid (Omega-6) than other patients, and the more severe the heart attack, the more omega-6-induced plaque buildup found in the artery wall [13].

Cancer:

High levels of Omega-6 fatty acids have been linked to an increased risk of prostate cancer, while Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer. [14]

A lower Omega-6/Omega-3 ratio in women with breast cancer is associated with a reduced risk. A ratio of 2-3/1 can suppress inflammation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, a ratio of 5/1 can be beneficial in patients with asthma, and a ratio of 10/1 can have adverse consequences. [15]

Higher Omega-6 fat intake is associated with the risk of squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and melanoma. [16]

Researchers studying cancer in mice have even shown that tumors can be induced by feeding mammals polyunsaturated fats such as Omega-6. In other words, even if researchers wanted to induce tumors in lab animals, they wouldn’t get there without feeding them fats like Omega-6. The same phenomenon has been found in liver damage: Omega-6 is the culprit. The severity of liver damage is related to the amount of Omega-6 in the diet.

Obesity:

Consuming Omega-6 in vegetable oils produces compounds such as 2-AG and cannabinamide.

As Tucker Goodrich points out in his detailed article on Omega-6, these compounds act on certain receptors in our brains, just like THC in marijuana, to produce signals that increase appetite and thus lead to weight gain.

In fact, the more obese a person is, the higher their levels of 2-AG and amide. Omega-6 derivatives bind to receptors in our brains, causing strong cravings for salty, sweet, oil-rich junk foods. It’s a vicious cycle.

The more foods we eat that are rich in vegetable oils, the more we crave junk food, which is often rich in vegetable oils, which causes us to get stuck in it.

Why do we get fat? The classic answer is “it’s the ratio of calories in and calories out”.

This may be partly true, but it misses the point.

As diet researcher Gary Taubs explains, it’s like asking a rich person how he got rich and his response is, “I make more money than I spend.”

Of course, that’s how they got rich, and what makes them make more money than they spend?

Why do certain people eat more calories than they burn, while others stay even?

Omega-6 intake from edible vegetable oils may be one answer. A diet high in vegetable oils may make us constantly crave more food, especially junk food.

Macular degeneration (AMD) :

“Omega is associated with a risk of AMD. In people with low intake of Omega-6 fatty acids, higher intake of Omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a lower risk of AMD.” [17]

A brief introduction to skin cancer and AMD, the world’s leading cause of blindness.

We all know that the disease catches from the mouth. The cells in our bodies come entirely from the food we eat.

When we consume vegetable oils, the Omega-6 fats in them enter our cell membranes, and because Omega-6 fats are more unstable than other types of fat, our cells become more fragile and vulnerable to damage on a high-omega-6 diet.

Cell damage is most noticeable when these cells are located on the outside of our bodies, rather than inside, such as in the eyes and skin.

Excessive consumption of Omega-6 in vegetable oils plays an important role in accelerating skin aging and the eye disease AMD. Tucker Goodrich emphasizes that it is widely and irrefutably recognized that Omega-6 may be the only trigger for AMD [18,19].

Our eyeballs are mostly made up of fat, and when these fats contain too much Omega-6, they are more vulnerable to damage from UV exposure. The pathway that leads to skin cancer may be the same. Too much vegetable oil Omega-6 makes skin and eyes more vulnerable to damage [20].

The conclusions of the researchers cited above are just the tip of the iceberg. There are now tens of thousands of research papers on the role of omega-6s in disease. And humans aren’t the only animals affected by Omega-6.

The most serious consequence of consuming vegetable oils is the exposure of Omega-6 to light, heat and air in a process known as oxidation. Oxidation is a signature cause of disease and aging.