To find the debate around seed oils confusing?

So we’re back to lard and suet? Yay!

Special sunflower oil and olive oil. Butter. Yum.

I don’t fry really, so that’s manageable.

Oooh.. I didn’t know that cold pressed was allowed?! I was under the impression that all seed oils in general had been demonised. Good news for me though if true, I can stop feeling guilty that my favourite oil to cook with is cold pressed rapeseed🤣

I am the posters DH and do research into oils and fats, and attended many conferences on this. In short, the whole area is controversial. The whole saturated fats issue originates from some dubious research in the 1950’s (Ancel Keys, Seven Countries) study in which 7 countries were cherry picked from 22 to “prove” that saturated fats were bad. In fact many studies since have failed to prove a connection, but it had already become embedded (on average saturated fats come out as neutral). The things people agree on are that olive oil is good, omega 3 is good and trans fats are bad. My view is that omega 6 should be avoided, especially in cooking (such as frying) as they tend to oxidise (the main fatty acid is linoleic acid which has 2 reactive double bonds, compared to 1 in oleic acid which dominates olive oil). Omega 3 fish oils oxidise the most but people don’t fry using these. As an aside, saturated fats don’t oxidise at all. Apart from oxidation, there are other studies which show that brain health is adversely affected by too much omega 6. So I personally avoid oils high in omega 6 which are pretty much all the seed oils - these are sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, “vegetable oil” (which is rapeseed oil). The exception is high oleic sunflower oil, this is a genetically modified sunflower oil, which is like olive oil in composition.

@SensibleSigma Tagged you, back to non science actual MN poster here, hope it’s helpful.

I have heard and listened to many debunking coconut myth and many dietitians use this especially in baking etc because its pure. Just shows that it's extremely hard for a normal person to make a decision when 'experts' can't agree.

I use rapeseed and olive oil

Yes, there seems to be conflicting advice given on rapeseed!

Do ask him! I am interested too.

Olive oil is so expensive now I’d also like to understand if there’s a healthy alternative.

The temperature thing is misproven? I read it’s olive oil has a low smoking point which makes it cancerous at higher cooking temperatures.

i am confused too. I would like to just use olive oil

i think cold pressed rapeseed has a high smoking point. Not sure if that better

The temperature thing has been disproven. I use olive oil & butter.

open.spotify.com/episode/6IERMSBnvdbaa2vaxISKna?si=ZYaasoJdRumht2wpZ2wk5A

Here is the Zoe podcast on seed oils

It's convenient for the masses to eat them because they are cheap to produce and easy to store and transport. Goes a long way to solve a problem of a lot of people to provide "food" for.

But ask yourself who is this benefitting? Industry (someone's pockets) or my body?

I absolutely avoid them. If you'd like to learn more I'd suggest reading Dr Andrew Jenkinson's why we eat too much. It's also free as audio book on Spotify.

Watch a video on how seed oils are produced, preferably one that goes into the history of why they were developed and why these are considered food, and that might help you make up your own mind.
Spoiler, they were originally waste products from manufacturing and are now industrially produced food-like-products that can be cheaply produced from subsidized crops and sold as a source of calories.

I'm a registered dietitian. Monounsaturated fats like olive oil and rapeseed oil can raise good cholesterol and lower bad cholesterol, they are the best fats for heart health. Polyunsaturated fats like sunflower oil can lower bad but also good cholesterol. Saturated fats like animal fats and coconut/palm oil raise bad cholesterol, they are worst for heart health. All fats are equally calorific and should only be consumed in small amounts to prevent unwanted weight gain.

My DH is an expert on fats and oils and his research involves this area, food science. He is at work currently so when he returns I will ask him to reply to your msg.

All we have in our house is olive oil and butter.

To add I believe it's the processing of the oils that are meant to be the issue rather than the ingredients in the oil, that's why cold pressed isn't controversial.

I have wondered this too!

It's really confusing. Die hard UPF avoiders will say avoid (unless cold pressed) but I believe there was a podcast recently possibly by Zoe that debunks that a little? I just stick to olive oil tbh, people say it doesn't have the right temp but it cooks everything I eat well enough and if it's good enough for the Italians...