From Machinery Lubricant to ‘Healthy’ Food: How Ultraprocessed Seed Oils Became a Kitchen Staple

Vegetable oils, a dominant ingredient in ultraprocessed foods, are rich in linoleic acid, which accumulates in the body and can cause oxidative stress, inflammation and cellular damage.

Story at a glance:

• Ultraprocessed vegetable oils have quietly become one of the most dominant and pernicious ingredients in the modern diet. They have driven a dramatic rise in linoleic acid intake over the past century.
• The documentary, “Fed a Lie: The Truth About Seed Oils,” reveals how marketing, subsidies, and flawed science replaced traditional animal fats with industrially produced oils made from soy, corn, cottonseed, and other crops.
• Clinical and epidemiological studies have linked seed oil consumption to increased oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial damage, cancer risk, and cardiovascular dysfunction, despite being touted as “healthy” fats.
• Ancestral populations thrived on diets rich in saturated fat but free from processed seed oils. This allowed them low rates of chronic disease, even with widely varying macronutrient profiles.
• To reduce your exposure to seed oils and help counter the effects of excess LA, focus on avoiding processed foods, switching to traditional fats for cooking, and supporting your body’s natural defenses with nutrients like C15:0.

Chronic illness has become a normal part of everyday life for many Americans. You likely know someone living with heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune issues or ongoing mental health challenges.

These problems are showing up earlier, lasting longer, and affecting more people than in the past. While many factors contribute to this trend, one of the most influential is what we eat every day.

Over the last century, the American diet has undergone a dramatic transformation. Home-cooked meals made from simple, whole ingredients have steadily given way to ultraprocessed products — foods engineered for convenience, mass production and longer shelf life.

These changes didn’t happen all at once, and most people weren’t aware they were even happening.

Today, many of the ingredients found in everyday packaged foods are far removed from anything found in a traditional kitchen.

The featured documentary, “Fed a Lie: The Truth About Seed Oils,” takes a closer look at one of the most impactful shifts in our diet — how industrial seed oils became a foundation of the modern food supply and what that means for long-term health.

The rise of seed oils in the modern diet

The featured video lays out the historical pathway that caused industrial seed oils to dominate the American food supply, drawing on historical records, government data and expert interviews.

These oils were later marketed as “vegetable oils” to make them sound healthy, but they are extracted from crops like soybeans, corn and cottonseed. This change took place over the span of about a century, but its effects are still unfolding.

Read More Here.

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