The ‘vegetable’ label in vegetable oil automatically leads to an association of good nutrition and wellness. After all, what foods are more highly lauded as a critical part of any healthy diet than vegetables? The problem is that vegetable oils are not really vegetables at all, but rather industrially processed extractions from the seeds of such crops as corn, rapeseed, sunflower, cotton, soy, and other similar crops. What’s even worse is that the evils of vegetable oils do not merely end with a marketing misnomer in their name. Vegetable oils actually carry with them many significant risks that may be leading to detrimental effects on your healthy. Read on to find out the seven reasons vegetable oil may be destroying your health.
Background: To understand why vegetable oils pose such great health risks, it is important to understand what vegetable oils really are. Vegetable oils are highly processed. Health and nutrition experts may have differing opinions on things such as how many carbohydrates should be eaten, which types of proteins should be eaten, and many other things, but one thing that virtually every dietician, physician, and researcher can agree upon is that processed foods should be avoided as much as possible for their negative health effects. Not only are vegetable oils used in most processed foods, they themselves are highly processed. Vegetable oils are made using extremely high temperatures and chemical extraction methods. The chemical odor in vegetable oils is so pungent that they must go through a deodorizing process before they hit store shelves so that the chemical odor is not so overwhelming.
By the way, it is rare when the mainstream media outlets in the United States veer away from the conventional dietary and medical community wisdom on the subject of fats (specifically that saturated fats cause high cholesterol and heart disease) so it was surprising this factoid in from Time Magazine on April 12 2016 that stated that although vegetable oils will lower cholesterol…“In fact, for every 30mg/dL drop in cholesterol, there was a 22% increased risk of death. So people who ate animal fats tended to live longer than those who switched to vegetable oils.”
Read On…
Reason #1
Polyunsaturated Fats Are Not What The Body Is Designed To Use. The fat in vegetable oils is what is known as polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). Though erroneous propaganda has been promoted to make people think that these PUFAs are healthier alternative to saturated fats, this is simply not true. Big Fat Lies author David Gillepsie explains that the human body is simply not designed to consume the mass quantities in today’s standard diet.
The body actually needs saturated fats like those from animal products and monounsaturated fats to function optimally. Both the brain and the heart, as well as other parts of the body, need saturated fats for fuel, protection, and function. Cell membranes require these good fats to repair themselves, while on the other hand PUFAs can damage the cell membrane. Using vegetable oils instead of the good, natural saturated fats the body needs both deprives the body of the benefits of healthy fats and simultaneously causes damage.
Reason #2
Vegetable Oils Are Unstable. Some of the greatest problems vegetable oils cause to people’s health is due to their unstable nature. When heated during cooking and baking, the unstable nature of vegetable oil leads to it quickly oxidizing and becoming reactive. This in turn causes harm throughout structures within the body, including to DNA. Just as it is critically important to have a diet filled with foods that have antioxidant properties to promote health and wellness, it is equally important to avoid foods that are oxidized. Dr. Joseph Mercola and other leading experts caution that these oxidized oils are toxic to your health.
Reason #3
Increased Cancer Risk Is Associated With Vegetable Oil. Chemical additives such as butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), tertiary butylhydroquinon (TBHQ), and hexane are all used in the making of vegetable oils. With such harsh chemicals, it is no surprise that lab studies have revealed findings such as an increased risk of liver cancer in rats when exposed to some of these chemicals.
Reason #4
Heart Disease Prevalence And The Use of Vegetable Oils Is Directly Correlated. Vegetable oils have long been inaccurately marketed as a healthy alternative to things like animal fat, coconut oil, and palm oil (which are actually very healthy). This myth has been propelled in part by the fight against heart disease. The reality, as sited by authorities such as Dr. Weston A. Price, is that the use of vegetable oils and the rapid rise of heart disease is in fact directly correlated with the introduction of industrialized vegetable oils over the past 100 to 200 years.
Reason #5
Vegetable Oils Impact Mental Health And Behavior. The detrimental effects of vegetable oils extend beyond physical health to mental health and behavior as well. Problems such as depression, distractibility, aggression, and learning problems have all been linked with consuming the chemicals used for vegetable oils. The effects of the BHA and BHT on learning and behavior are so great that renowned child learning specialist Dr. Ben Feingold of the non-profit Feingold Association recommends complete elimination of them in a child’s diet who is experiencing learning or behavioral problems.
Reason #6
Vegetable Oils Skew the Balance Of Essential Fatty Acids. One of the most significant ways vegetable oils contribute to health problems is by skewing the balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. While both omega 3s and omega 6s are essential fatty acids, the standard diet includes far too many omega 6s, resulting in problems such as inflammation, aches and pains, autoimmune problems, mood disturbances, disease and more. The imbalance of these fatty acids can largely be blamed on the significant amount of the pro-inflammatory omega 6s in vegetable oils.
Reason #7
Vegetable Oils Are Largely Made From GMOs. Most of the crops that vegetable oils come from, such as soybeans and corn, have been genetically modified (GMOs). While the verdict is still out on all the possible damages that GMOs may cause to people experts are concerned about things such as new allergy development, cancer and disease risk, and significantly increased chemical exposure due to GMO crops being specifically designed to hold up against greater levels and types of pesticides. The extent to which vegetable oils are genetically modified is exemplified in the case of canola oil. Many consumers may not realize it, but there is no such thing as a naturally occurring canola seed. Canola oil is derived from rapeseed, a crop heavily modified to reduce acid levels. To distract from this fact and better market the processed GMO oil, it was dubbed canola, for CANadian Oil Low Acid. Consumers looking to avoid the potential risks of GMOs are well advised to avoid vegetable oils.
The Take Away: Just because vegetable oils are not a good source of fat, it is important to remember that fat is still a critical part of a healthy diet. Instead it is best consume animal product fats such as butter, lard, extra virgin olive oil, or coconut oil, for the healthy fats in your diet. A good goal is to avoid processed foods in order to avoid unwanted sources of vegetable oils sneaking into your diet.
WATCH VIDEO – About Dangerous Vegetable Oils
WATCH VIDEO – About The Dangers Of Canola Oil
Recommended Reading
Check out Nina Teicholtz’s excellent book ‘The Big Fat Surprise.’ It was a very well-reviewed New York Times Best Seller. If you read Chapter 9 (pages 259 to 285) there is a good chance you will want to eliminate all vegetable oils from your diet
This article is provided for educational, informational, or entertainment purposes only and is NOT intended as medical advice. The information contained in this website should NOT be used to diagnose or treat any illness, disease or health problem. Please consult with a health care professional regarding any illness, disease or health problem.
Some Reference Sources
http://time.com/4291505/when-vegetable-oil-isnt-as-healthy-as-you-think/
http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/the-skinny-on-fats/
http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/some-additives-in-vegetable-oils/
www.feingold.org (various articles)
http://www.siberiantigernaturals.com/traditionaldiets.htm#confused
http://dailyhealthpost.com/the-truth-about-healthy-vegetable-oils/