Seed oils sound straightforward enough: oils that come from seeds, right? Seeds come from plants, plants are healthy, seed oils must be healthy too, right?!! On closer examination, they’re not truly what they seem, and they’re definitely not what they’ve been touted to be throughout the years.
The terms “seed” and “vegetable” oil are often used synonymously. Vegetable oils are the broader category that seed oils fall under, with seed oils coming namely from the seed part of the plant. Corn, soybean, cottonseed, canola, sunflower, grapeseed, rice bran, peanut, and safflower oils all fall under this category.
You’ve undoubtedly come across these oils in your day-to-day food forays. Pick up nearly any processed food off the grocery store shelf or dine at most any restaurant and you’ll find some form of seed/vegetable oil present. Used for its neutral flavor, ability to handle high heat, and cheap production, seed oils are used in a vast number of processed foods from cereals, chips, crackers, canned goods, fried foods, nut and oat milks, protein shakes, salad dressings and mayo, even baby formulas and foods and beyond. You’ll even find them lurking in personal care and beauty products, too.
Why, you might be asking? In short, because they’re cheap to produce and use and relatively easy to come by. But why did we start using them in the first place?
Let’s journey back once again to the rise of the industrial revolution (which we discussed more here in our post on regenerative agriculture). It was a booming and bustling time, new machines and ways of living were popping up left and right, and ingenuity was having a heyday.
One such life-altering invention around this time was the cotton gin, which made the separation of cotton from seed leaps and bounds easier and more effective, and also brought with it a massive boost in cotton production along with an excess of toxic cotton seed discard. Rather than let this discard go to waste, it was repurposed by the forefathers of Proctor and Gamble (then in the business of soap and candle making). Looking to find a cheaper alternative to the costly animal fats they were using in their products, they were able to revolutionize a new way to process the liquid cottonseed oil into a hydrogenated semi-solid product perfect for soaps and candles. What they also realized was that this new product looked a lot like the cooking lard used at that time, and they marketed an additional arm of their business into Crisco, touting it as “an absolutely wholesome and delicious cooking material.”
From agricultural trash to soaps and candles to kitchen tables, the greasy history of seed and vegetable oils and their questionable production methods took off.
This spark of ingenuity led to the exploration of oil extraction from other common high-production plants (think: corn, soy), eventually contributing to the mass production of the highly processed oils we now know and see in abundance in our foods.
Compounding this meteoric rise of industrial seed oils, the most commonly used saturated animal fats like butter, lard, and tallow were wrongly vilified during this time, further paving the way for these novel seed oils to shine.
Based on poorly executed “scientific” studies, saturated animal fats were made the scapegoat for heart disease in America in the 1950s. This “research” claimed that consumption of saturated animal fats led to high cholesterol which led to heart disease, and therefore saturated fats were dangerous and should be avoided. Except what it drastically failed to also address were additional dietary and lifestyle factors that were contributing to poor health, like increased sugar and processed food intake, including those newer seed oils. And it completely ignored the vast health benefits of these ancestral saturated fats.
The stage was set. Saturated fat was off the table. These loud anti-saturated fat claims (deemed the “diet-heart hypothesis”) were amplified in perfect concert with the rise of industrial seed and vegetable oils, with companies then making the unregulated claims that their processed oils were “heart healthy,” unlike their “deadly” heart-averse saturated fat counterparts.
As we now know and has since been widely debunked, saturated fat was never the problem. What was instead touted to be a healthier alternative for saturated animal fats was actually a huge driver of chronic inflammation. Why?
The journey from seed to oil is a massive slippery slope involving varying degrees of oxidation that continue even after the oil has been processed. In the most commonly used processing method, the oil is extracted from the seed through the use of high heat, the addition of chemical extractants (to get every last drop of oil), bleaching (we want it vaguely colorless, after all), and deodorizing (this stuff reeks, and no one wants to buy a smelly oil), and is then packaged in clear plastic bottles where further oxidation takes place in storage before it’s finally used for cooking. More heat is then applied when used for cooking or frying and it oxidizes even further. Even if you received these oils “fresh” and hot off the presses, they’d still be void of nutrients and full of oxidation, but they’re sitting on shelves for months where they further oxidize before ever making it into your foods.
What does all of this oxidation ultimately mean? Increased free radicals and cellular damage for the end consumer. Add to this already questionable recipe where you’re most likely to come across seed oils: not isolated as the oil itself, but in packaged, ultra-processed, and fried foods that carry their own degrees of nutrient void inflammatory ingredients. A simpler recipe for inflammation couldn’t be found.
Beyond their seedy processing methods, perhaps the biggest concern with industrial seed oils is in their imbalanced omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acid ratios, with seed oils disproportionately high in omega-6.
The “essential” component of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids means that they must be acquired from the diet, as the body can’t produce them. Fatty acids are the building blocks for fat that the body needs. When these omega fats are in balanced, ideal ratios, they’re able to serve these vitally important purposes in the body. The ideal, ancestral ratios of omega-6 to omega-3 fat consumption were typically in the 4:1 or less range, ideally closer to a 1:1 ratio. Today, it’s more commonly seen in ratios of 20:1 or more.
Omega-6 became the overarching type of fat consumed via industrial seed oils, far overshadowing the anti-inflammatory omega-3s and throwing off the needed balance between the two for inflammation management. Even the most hardworking of omega-3s can’t keep up with such out-of-balance ratios. Inflammation reigns supreme, and where inflammation reigns, chronic disease follows.
We can see how industrial seed oils came to be the prevalent choice thanks in part to the rise in industrial production methods and the recommended removal of once common saturated animal fats. Their path to fame was paved with greasy opportunities. But the compound problems with seed oils are clearer than canola oil:
- The plant to begin with: not particularly “oily” plants, so a lot of additional processing is required to extract every last drop of oil (compared to olives, avocados, coconuts, and palm with higher natural oil content). They’re also largely mono-cropped and glyphosate-treated.
- Processing methods that render them nutrient void and free radical filled
- The ultra-processed products they’re used in and the additional inflammatory ingredients (sugar, white flour, preservatives) added
- Their omega-6 to omega-3 ratio imbalance, contributing to chronic inflammation
So, what’s a person to do? Avoid them altogether and live under a rock?
Not necessarily. While it is a good idea to aim to avoid these oils and the products they’re found in (it’s never about perfection, but a mindful awareness can go a long way), it’s equally important to focus on the balance and quality of beneficial fats and other whole, nutrient-dense foods in your diet.
Cue Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” as we look back to an ancestral way of eating that encompassed a use of healthier fats that our bodies were made to utilize. These fats naturally contain more balanced ratios of the essential fatty acids that our bodies need, in addition to a wealth of vitamins and minerals that encourage health and discourage rampant inflammation. Think coconut oil, grass-fed beef tallow, duck fat, lard, avocado oil, grass-fed butter, olive oil, sustainably-sourced palm oil, plus whole food forms like fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines), grass-fed meat and dairy, and whole nuts and seeds.
In addition to these whole foods, opt for healthier snacks with simple, straightforward ingredients free of these processed oils.
And if we haven’t made it clear yet, we’ll just go ahead and mention here that you will never find the likes of highly processed seed oils (or anything else highly processed for that matter) in any of our snacks. We’re passionate about whole food goodness through simple, quality ingredients from seed to bag.
This blog post was written by Ashley Castle
