8 Toxic Seed Oils-- What to Know
Ronald Grisanti D.C., D.A.B.C.O., DACBN, MS, CFMP
The eight industrial toxic seed oils are Canola, Corn, Cottonseed, Soy, Sunflower, Safflower, Grapeseed, and Rice bran.
Industrial seed oils are the highly processed oils extracted from soybeans, corn, rapeseed (canola), cottonseed and sunflower and safflower seeds. After the seeds are gathered, they are heated to extremely high temperatures to oxidize the fatty acids. This creates byproducts that are harmful to your health.
Omega-6s are found in oils such as corn, safflower, sunflower, soy and vegetable and products made with those oils. Excess consumption of omega-6s can trigger the body to produce pro-inflammatory chemicals.
What's wrong with industrial seed oils?
There are six main problems with industrial seed oils, all of which play a significant role in chronic inflammatory diseases.
The consumption of industrial seed oils represents an evolutionary mismatch.
Eating industrial seed oils raises our omega-6-to-omega-3 fatty acid ratios, with significant consequences for our health.
Industrial seed oils are unstable and oxidize easily.
They contain harmful additives.
They're derived from genetically modified crops.
When industrial seed oils are repeatedly heated (as restaurants do in fryers), even more toxic byproducts are created.
How are industrial seed oils making us sick?
Industrial seed oils are far from the “healthy” label they carry. A number of chronic inflammatory diseases have been linked to a number of chronic health problems such as:
Asthma
Autoimmune disease
Cognitive and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, dementia, and even Alzheimer's disease.
Diabetes and obesity
Heart disease (they are far from being heart healthy!)
Gut health issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBS)
Inflammation
Infertility
Macular degeneration
Osteoarthritis
The best thing you can do for your own health and the health of your family is to get rid of all vegetable oils and margarines from your home. Simply throw them out. Replace them with saturated fats for cooking and extra virgin olive and avocado oil for dressing.
Summary:
At this point, it should be clear that we want to avoid omega-6 fats in our cooking oil. The following is a good graphic to represent what to avoid.
Oils from tropical plants such as cacao, coconut, and palm are lowest in omega-6, while oils from cold-weather plants such as sunflower and soybean are highest in omega-6 and best avoided.
References
https://www.bmj.com/content/353/bmj.i1512/rr-4
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21551197.2012.752335
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8050192/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12624-9
https://www.nature.com/articles/tp2017190
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335257/
https://openheart.bmj.com/content/5/2/e000898
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12442909/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29636341/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808795/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808858/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22334255/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11483088/
The information on this website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Dr. Grisanti and his functional medicine community. Dr. Grisanti encourages you to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional. Visit www.FunctionalMedicineUniversity.com for more information on our training in functional medicine. Look for practitioners who have successfully completed the Functional Medicine University's Certification Program (CFMP) www.functionalmedicinedoctors.com. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Grisanti is required