In this video, Coach Erik delves into seed oils. He explains what they are, why you might use them, and the claims against them. He then explores these claims, and gives a verdict as to whether or not they are dangerous. Don’t want to watch the video? You can find the transcript below it.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:32 Seed Oils and Their Uses
04:57 Evaluating the Claims Against Them

Transcript:
What’s going on everybody? Welcome back to the Fitness Edda! I am your host, Erik Castiglione, owner and head coach of Viking Athletics. Before we dive into this one, as always if you like our channel, give us a like, give us a subscribe, comment below with any topics you’d like to see us dive into.

 I was going to do this one last week, and then with the confirmation of now Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., I decided to do one on critical thinking in the health and wellness space because let’s be honest we’re going to need it. This is another one of his topics that he likes to blame for our obesity epidemic, and if you have ever talked to anyone that follows the carnivore diet they demonize seed oils as well. Basically, they’ve just been getting raked over the coals a lot in the fitfluencer space. So, we’re going to dive in and talk about them.

We want to know what are, why people use them, we’ll dive into some of the claims against them – I’ll present the claims and then we’re going to dig into those claims and figure out what’s really going on, and then we’ll end with a verdict. This should be a pretty quick one. I’ve been doing well over 20 minutes – I imagine this one will be hopefully 10 minutes or less. It’s pretty straightforward.

First off, what are seed oils? If you’ve ever cooked with veggie oil, it’s just called vegetable oil, seed oils are a subset that is derived from the seeds of plants rather than the flesh. So, a great example of an oil that is derived from the flesh of a vegetable is olive oil. You crush the actual olives and extract the oil that comes out, whereas seed oils you extract from the seeds themselves.

Coconut oil is a unique case that is, despite the fact that it comes from a plant, it is closer in composition to lard based on the fat, the triglycerides and fatty acids that are in it. So that is kind of a special case, but I just want to point out that that is not a seed oil.

Examples of seed oils include sesame oil, canola oil, flaxseed oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, I’m sure there are plenty of others, but anything that is not coconut oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil is probably a seed oil.

We use them to cook because they’re affordable. If you’ve ever bought high quality extra virgin olive oil it can get pretty pricey. Canola oil by comparison is much, much more affordable, much cheaper.

If you’ve ever overcooked extra virgin olive oil, maybe you’re preheating a pan and you step away for a little bit too long and you come back and it’s already smoking, vegetable oils have a pretty low smoke point. Seed oils have a higher smoke point than vegetable oils, so you can get away with higher temperature cooking than you can with olive oil or vegetable oil.

I should point out that it is not as high of a smoke point as lard, animal fat, or coconut oil. All of those have a higher smoke point than seed oils, and that’ll come into play shortly. And lastly, seed oils taste good, so why not use them?

Well, the claims against them are that they are processed as opposed to naturally occurring. We’ll dive into that one in a sec. Another claim against them is that because their smoke point is not as high as butter or lard or coconut oil, when they hit their smoke point they become toxic and carcinogenic. So, you should use something that has a higher smoking point, that is another argument against them.

And then there’s a claim that they are inherently toxic, you don’t even need to cook them, and consuming them will lead to weight gain, acne, and systemic inflammation. And then there’s, again, it kind of ties into that, but there is an argument that they are pro-inflammatory because they contain omega-6 fatty acids. So, let’s dive into these claims and see if we can’t figure out what’s really going on.

Number one, the processed argument. It’s used a lot when people are trying to fearmonger. Oh, you shouldn’t eat that, it’s processed. Everything is processed in some way, shape, or form. Unless I shoot an animal and immediately don’t even skin it, just dive in and start eating and chewing, everything is processed in some way, shape, or form.

What fearmongers are trying to prey on is they are conflating the word processed with ultra-processed. And those are the foods that are hyper-palatable and devoid of nutrients and very, very high in calories. So, by conflating the word processed with ultra-processed, it leads to fear that these are bad for you. Don’t fall into that trap.

Everything is processed in some way, shape, or form. Even just rinsing off a piece of fruit before you eat it, that’s processing. Grinding wheat or corn or other grains into flour or into meal is a form of processing. Cooking is a form of processing. Everything is processed.

The argument that they release toxins during cooking? Yeah, they do become carcinogenic if you reach that smoking point. So don’t reach the smoking point. Cook at appropriate temperatures. Again, they’re already better for high heat than vegetable oils. So just be aware of that. And if you need to cook something at a very high heat, like you’re going to be searing a piece of meat, it is probably better to do that in butter anyway. Higher smoke point.

The argument that they are inherently toxic and lead to weight gain and acne and systemic inflammation? As with everything, the dose makes the poison. If you sit there and chug seed oil, you will very likely be in a caloric surplus, and all of those effects now come into play. Yes, if I’m in a caloric surplus, I’m going to gain weight. That’s not unique to seed oils. That is true of anything.

Because the seed oils are a source of fat, and fat is most easily of all the macronutrients converted into adipose tissue, that’s where that argument comes from. Hey, you’re overeating in general. So now this source of fat becomes the body fat that you’re storing. It’s not a claim that’s unique to seed oils. They just use it to fear monger. As long as you’re eating in an isocaloric situation or if you’re in a caloric deficit, you’re going to be just fine.

And again, this brings up the argument of the types of fats that are in animal products versus seed oils we’ll get to omega-6s in a minute but in general it’s an argument between saturated fats and monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. Seed oils are the latter. And butter and animal products, and actually, this is why I said coconut oil doesn’t fall in either, category coconut oil is high in saturated fats.

The argument that the carnivore community makes is that saturated fats are better for your liver because there’s a study to back up pretty much everything. The problem is you need to look at multiple studies. This is why meta analyses come into play. And you have to look into what is actually studied and the type of study.

A lot of nutritional studies are self-reported and the studies that the carnivore community likes to cite, the people that had issues with their livers because they were consuming seed oils were eating in a caloric surplus. In literally every study that equates for calories, seed oils are actually shown to improve liver function compared to dairy and meat products. So unsaturated fats are better for liver function and for cholesterol  when equated calorically with saturated fats.

So, it’s actually the opposite of what seed oil critics are claiming. That’s why we have to equate calories, and that’s why we always want to dig into the studies and where possible look at meta-analyses which compare all the studies. So again, they’re not inherently toxic. The dose makes the poison. As long as you’re not in a caloric surplus, you’re going to be fine.

And then again, the last argument is that they are pro-inflammatory, and this comes from the fact that they are high in Omega-6 fatty acids. So, if you’re not familiar with Omega-6s, grain fed beef and grain fed animal products are pretty high in Omega-6s. There’s also Omega-3s which are EPA and DHA are the ones that we really care about. If you’re supplementing with fish oil, it is likely because the balance of Omega-6s to Omega-3s in your body is off. We need both. We don’t need only Omega-3s and no Omega-6s. We want to have both.

Given that most of our food comes from grain fed sources, it’s not a bad idea to supplement with Omega-3s to try to restore that balance. Yes, Omega-6s when isolated are inherently inflammatory. That is a mechanism. Outcomes are the culmination of thousands of mechanisms going on in the body, so just because it’s been shown to be inflammatory in a lab doesn’t mean that it’s going to be inflammatory in the body.

We covered this last week in our critical thinking video. As long as you’re eating a balanced diet and as long as your Omega-3s and Omega-6s are mostly in balance, you will not see those inflammatory effects of the Omega-6s. If you are in a caloric surplus you’re going to have chronic systemic inflammation anyway. It’s hard to argue that it is solely because of Omega-6s and not the caloric surplus.

But that’s what people do is they take a mechanism, and they use it to fear monger because now they have science to back them up. This is where critical thinking comes into play.

So what is the overall verdict here? Eat a diet rich in whole foods, fruits, veggies, lean proteins, starchy carbs, you’ll naturally have your Omega-3s and Omega-6s in balance, you won’t be in a caloric surplus, and as long as you’re not overcooking the seed oils, hitting that smoke point where you now have to somewhat worry about carcinogens, it’s not an issue. It’s really not bad.

Similarly, if you prefer butter instead of oils, go for it. As long as you are eating a balanced diet and you are not chronically in a caloric surplus, you’re going to be fine. None of this stuff is inherently better than the other. The key is the overall picture. Eat a balanced diet. Don’t gorge yourself and you’re going to be just fine. Hope that clears that up. Again, if you enjoy these videos, give us a like, give us a subscribe, comment below with any topics you’d like us to cover, and we’ll see you guys’ next time.