Decades ago when natural saturated fats were villainised, it made room in the market for the creation of industrialised vegetable oils or seed oils. Companies started mass-producing oils made with ingredients such as sunflower seeds, cotton seeds, peanuts, corn and soy. Not only are these ingredients effectively mass produced, but also cheap, easy to process, and low in saturated fats. These took the place of traditional and natural fat products including butter, lard, olive oil and Inca Inchi oil.
Seed oils aren’t only advertised as cheap and abundant, but also healthier for the heart. But are they really?
From Seeds to Solvents: The Lab Process
Have you ever wondered how an oil is extracted from a hard kernel of corn or a tiny rapeseed? It isn’t as simple as pressing an olive or churning butter. Where you could make lard in your kitchen at home with a bit of patience and a high-quality cream, you cannot make vegetable oils there.
To turn seed crops into liquid oil, manufacturers subject them to extreme industrial processing:
- High Heat Extraction: Seeds are crushed by machines and heated to high temperatures. This high temperature allows the fats to be extracted but it also causes the delicate and healthy fats to oxidise and destroy the health of the plant.
- Chemical Solvents: Petroleum-based solvents like hexane are used to extract every last drop of oil from the seed mash.
- Bleaching & Deodorising: Raw extracted oil comes out dark and foul-smelling. To make it presentable, it is bleached to remove colour and chemically deodorised at intense heat.
By the time that oil lands in a plastic bottle on a supermarket shelf, it is an oxidised, highly refined product that our bodies do not recognise as real food. Yes, it is low in saturated fats, because what does it contain? Just polyunsaturated fats that are volatile to disruption and the remnants of industrial chemicals.
The Hidden Cause of Inflammation
When polyunsaturated fats are exposed to heat, air, and chemical refining, they break down into free radicals and inflammatory compounds and drive low-grade, chronic inflammation throughout the body. Though current claims in the wider nutrition space say that seed oils are healthy and not linked to chronic disease, we find it hard to believe that a highly processed food is healthier than a naturally occurring fat, or even healthy at all. Imagine the accumulation of chemicals and oxidative stress on the body: studies haven’t been done to prove the long-term side effects of consuming seed oils, nor have any meaningful studies been done to see the interaction between seed oils and other ultra-processed foods that make up the SAD (Standard American Diet).
By comparison, we can see the benefits of eating natural foods such as butter and clean oils. They nourish our bodies with whole vitamins and minerals, fat that is necessary to power the endocrine system, and importantly, a lack of chemical intervention from processing.
As with everything, use common sense, trust your body’s innate intelligence and eat what nourishes you.
