Open Veils · Answer
Are seed oils bad for us?
The industrial seed oil hypothesis — that linoleic-acid-heavy oils drive oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and chronic inflammation — predates social media and is rooted in serious biochemical research. The mainstream reviews cite LDL reduction as the decisive metric while critics argue that marker is the wrong endpoint entirely. The suppressed record points to novel oxidation byproducts, omega-6/omega-3 ratio disruption, and historical epidemiology that the institutional reviews do not adequately address.
Evidence
- Dr. Cate Shanahan, in 'Deep Nutrition,' catalogued the epidemiological explosion of chronic disease in populations whose seed oil consumption increased post-WWII, arguing the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio — historically around 4:1, now estimated at 20:1 in Western diets — is the operative variable.
- Casey Means and RFK Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again platform have elevated the seed oil question to policy level in 2024–2025, with Means specifically citing the near-total displacement of tallow and lard in institutional food supply since the 1950s.
- Goodrich's work specifically implicates aldehydic byproducts formed during high-heat cooking as the mechanistic driver, not linoleic acid at rest.
- Peter Attia has noted on record that the oxidative stability of different oils under cooking temperatures is an underexplored variable in human trials.
- The April 2026 PubMed review cited by institutional sources does acknowledge the LA-inflammation claim has limited direct human trial support — but critics note that most RCTs replace seed oils with other PUFAs rather than ancestral fats, making the control arm irrelevant to the actual debate.