By Dr. Carin Shuler PT, DPT, MS, CHC

Are you often confused about which type of cooking oil is healthy?  Do you stare at the many varieties of oils in the grocery store aisle and wonder if any are heart healthy oils? The month of February, we often think of matters of the heart!  It is the month of Valentine’s Day after all! The month of the heart reminds us that heart health is an important topic here in America!

According to a recent report by the American Heart Association (AHA) 48% of adults in America have some form of heart or cardiovascular disease! We at Rehab House Call want to help you reduce your risk of heart disease or improve conditions that you may have that are part of the overall cardiovascular disease epidemic in this country. These are conditions like high blood pressure (also known as hypertension), clogged arteries (known as atherosclerosis) or heart failure.

If you or a loved one is afflicted with any of these or other cardiovascular conditions, contact us at 951-955-0451 or CLICK HERE NOW for a FREE CONSULTATION!

This blog’s topic is honing in on a very specific and confusing matter of the heart…that of cooking oils. These are often referred to as vegetable oils or seed oils (oils extracted from plant seeds via an industrial process). For decades, western medicine and our agricultural industry claimed these industrial seed or vegetable oils to be “heart healthy”. These include canola, corn, cottonseed, peanut, safflower, sunflower and soybean oils. The idea that these are “heart healthy” is at best controversial! A growing body of scientific research is indicating they are actually not at all healthy! They can negatively impact our cardiovascular (heart and blood vessels) health! Why then were these oils developed and why were they erroneously thought to be heart healthy? Indeed, why are they still promoted today?

A Look Back at the History of Industrial Seed Oils

Sometime after World War II, our country began to deliver more and more processed foods (versus natural, whole foods) to market. Americans were beginning to value the ease and convenience of the newer packaged foods. Women went into the work force during WWII and continued on thereafter, making preparing dinner from whole, natural foods less convenient due to time constraints. The women also loved the increased shelf life of these processed foods.

This too, was a timesaver as it meant less time needed going to the grocery store. Women could store these products for a longer period of time in their pantries at home. These manufactured and highly processed foods included vegetable and seed oils. These oils are highly processed, refined fats and are often just called “vegetable oils”. The terms of industrial seed oils and vegetable oils are often used interchangeably. They are extracted from seeds from plants in an industrial process that includes high heat, high pressure and chemical solvents (that sounds healthy and delicious, right???).

This technology became available post World War II. They oils include canola (from rapeseed), corn, cottonseed, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower. Name brands like Crisco became all the rage. Crisco is made from cottonseed oil and became popular because it had a semi-solid state and a very long shelf life. Many of you may remember or still see your mother or grandmother frying her “best” fried chicken with it. Besides being used for cooking, these oils are commonly found in salad dressings, mayonnaise, margarines and baked goods.

Our westernized, processed foods diet in America post World War II is anything but healthy! It has become known as the Standard American Diet or SAD. It is absolutely sad! The ever present industrial seed oils in our SAD since that time has led to an in depth study of these oils and the impact on our health due to their widespread use. For example, one study tracked our American consumption of just soybean oil. This oil is especially present in our SAD. It was found to have increased 1,000-fold from 1909 to 1999 in America! Could the increased use of such industrially processed oils be related to the increased heart disease in America over the same time period? Science is emerging that this is the case.

The Diet-Heart Hypothesis

Much of the increase in consumption of these industrial seed oils was led by the belief by our medical community that saturated fats (found primarily in animal products) and cholesterol were “bad” and caused cardiovascular disease. This was first proposed by Ancel Keys in the 1950’s. He was a physiologist and he reported his research findings that cholesterol and saturated fats were indeed “bad” for us and should be replaced by what he deemed “heart-healthy fats”. He recommended we instead use fats high in omega-6 fatty acids including these new to the market processed vegetable or seed oils.

Our medical community took his recommendations of his diet-heart hypothesis to their patients. With the invention of television, the commercials brought the same news into homes across America. At the same time, the news of industrial seed oils spread across television and other forms of ads too. Despite the poor quality of his research, the American medical community latched onto his ideas. Why? If the research quality was poor, why did this happen?

It may be of interest to know that Ancel Keys’ recommendations were advanced with the up and coming oilseed industry. With the family farms declining in the 40’s and 50’s and agri-industry taking over, the latter was looking for ways to use up agricultural surplus to (you guessed it) turn a greater profit. This was especially true with cottonseed. With the new technology to extract oils from seeds from plants, the new industry was born.

The manufacturers of these oils, like Proctor and Gamble who were the makers of the cottonseed–based Crisco, donated significant sums of money into the newly formed American Heart Association (AHA) back then. It was not a coincidence then that the AHA endorsed the recommendation of these so-called “heart healthy” oils. As they say, just follow the money!

Perhaps this is not so surprising today. We are all too familiar with lobbying in today’s world! The amount of misinformation on the recommendation to consume highly processed, industrial seed oils has lasted decades and continues to this day. This is, in part, due to it being so ingrained in all of us that we need to keep our cholesterol and triglycerides (fat in our bloodstream) low and in control to prevent cardiovascular disease.  It is ingrained in us to stay away from too much bacon, eggs, whole dairy products like butter and too much red meat because it is “bad”.  But is it?

 Over the decades of believing in and promoting the diet-heart hypothesis of Ancel Keys and that a low fat diet was healthy, the agri-industry continued to help our medical “experts” promote these ideas. We were inundated with TV commercials, government diet recommendations and printed materials in magazines and newspapers about the evils of cholesterol and saturated fats in nature. Butter was “bad” and margarine was “good”. The red meat and egg industries were hard hit in this country during this time.

Cholesterol became the dominant blood test marker that we all needed to keep low. It was the first simple blood test that physicians thought they could correlate to cardiovascular disease. They could measure the positive outcomes they thought in repeated cholesterol measures after recommending a diet low in animal fats. They promoted both a low fat diet to their patients and a class of drugs called statins. Many doctors to this day still focus on cholesterol though we now know it is not the primary driver of heart disease (1). More attention is being focused on high insulin and insulin resistance as a primary driver of heart disease!

Click here to read more about Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Heart Disease. 

The Myth that Cholesterol is “Bad”

Cholesterol, you might be surprised to know, is absolutely required to sustain life!  The cholesterol molecule is from the sterol family of molecules. They are fat-like in nature and waxy. Our bodies use cholesterol in many ways. Important examples include that it is:

- used in the structure of cell walls

- a vital building block for many hormones and these primarily function in our central nervous system 

- a key component in our bodies’ immune system

- very important in our bodies’ tissue repair processes

- absolutely required by our brains!!!!

In fact, our brain typically has, on average 30% of our bodies’ total cholesterol in its use for proper brain function. Yet, our brain is typically only about 4% of our total body weight!  If cholesterol is at all “bad”, why would it be so very critical in sustaining brain function and indeed life itself?

Most of you have learned that there is both “good” and “bad” cholesterol.  Some of you may even be on medications to lower your cholesterol. But do you even know what cholesterol is and what our current scientific research demonstrates about it now?

We consume cholesterol in the foods that we eat. It is mostly consumed in animal (saturated) fats.  Our liver also makes cholesterol. Here is something to ponder: if cholesterol is bad for us, why does our liver manufacture it?

Cholesterol is carried in our bloodstream to all areas of our body by particles called lipoproteins. LDL is one specific type of a lipoprotein. It is low density lipoprotein or LDL for short. HDL is another. That is, high density lipoprotein or HDL. Both carry cholesterol and the cholesterol is exactly the same! There is only one type of a cholesterol molecule therefore that one molecule can’t be both “good” and “bad”!

LDL has been historically labeled as the “bad cholesterol.”  HDL has been called the “good cholesterol.”  Both LDL and HDL are basically “boats” that carry the needed cholesterol around to all parts of our body via our bloodstream, and particularly to our brain. In fact, LDL and HDL aren’t really cholesterol at all; they are lipoproteins that carry the cholesterol. It isn’t as simple or noteworthy any more to consider them either “good” or “bad”. Watch for an upcoming blog from Rehab House Call that will go into a deeper dive about cholesterol!

Fats, especially saturated fats found in animal products, have also gotten a bad rap over the same time period as that of cholesterol. For these same decades, various health organizations and experts told us to limit our intake of animal products like meat, eggs, cheese and milk because saturated fat was linked to increasing “bad” cholesterol or LDL.  Instead, you guessed it…we were told to consume “healthy” but highly processed vegetable oils to replace the saturated animal fats (aka Ancel Keys). 

The Skinny on Fats!

It can sure be confusing! Just like protein and carbohydrates, fat is one of the main macronutrients in our human diet. Again, in the past “fat” was a bad word just like “bad” LDL. We now know though that there are indeed healthy fats that we need. In fact, healthy fats have important roles in our body. Some fatty acids are even called “essential” and we must consume them!

We must not think of “fat” as all bad and relate it only to weight gain, belly fat (also called visceral fat) and obesity. You may know that fats in our bloodstream, called triglycerides are also measured in the blood and have also been considered "bad".

But did you know that fat does have important functions including such as:

- storing and producing energy-maintaining warmth

- insulating and protecting vital organs

- supporting cell growth

- supporting cholesterol and blood pressure control

- acting as messengers

- helping to produce and store various hormones

- helping us to feel full and help in the taste of foods

- providing us with essential fatty acids

- supporting brain function

Let’s look at the main fats that we eat in our foods. These are saturated fats, monounsaturated fatty acids (or MUFAS), trans fats and polyunsaturated fats.  And then just to name a few, there’s Omega 3, Omega 6 and Linoleic and Oleic fatty acids too!  It can be enough to make your head spin! What’s the difference and what do we really need to consume?

For the chemist in you, dietary fats (primarily triglycerides) are large molecules made up of a chain of carbon atoms. These carbon atoms are bonded to hydrogen atoms that have three fatty acid molecules. These three are bonded to a glycerol molecule. So what is the difference?

Saturated fats: the carbon atoms are covered by hydrogen atoms (therefore saturated) and are stable and more solid at room temperatures. These are found in animal products like red meat, whole milk products, eggs, palm and coconut oils. It remains controversial in the medical and scientific community as to whether these saturated fats are indeed driving heart disease. There is a growing body of scientific research that debunks this idea and shows no contribution to heart disease! In fact, some of this research indicates that saturated fat like whole milk, for example, is better for us than low fat milk!

Another example is the popular Ketogenic Diet. It is well supported by research today and includes consuming healthy fats including saturated fats. A recent large study (called a meta-analyses) looking at a multitude of individual studies within the last decade concluded that there is no beneficial effect by reducing intake of saturated fats and dietary cholesterol on cardiovascular health! And there is a growing amount of evidence showing that there may be an actual protective effect from consuming saturated fats and strokes!  (2)

Yes, saturated fats can increase your Total Cholesterol and your LDL. However, we now know that a higher Total Cholesterol number can actually predict a longer, healthier life! (1). We also know that an increase in LDL doesn’t exactly predict risk of heart disease. And in fact, low LDL numbers can also be associated with “bad” things!  So it is not total cholesterol nor is it the LDL number that is all “bad” when it comes to heart disease!

We now know that it is the size of the LDL particles (or “boats”) that are more important to consider. Saturated fats tend to increase the large LDL particles in our blood. These large and more buoyant LDL particles are much less likely to increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease. Small, dense LDL particles are given a bit more of the blame. However, studies show replacing saturated fats in the diet with unsaturated fats from industrial vegetable and seed oils as Ancel Keys had recommended shows no significant benefit for our hearts’ health! There is no significant cardiovascular benefit found in consuming these industrial unsaturated oils (2).  And yet, recommendations still exist to this date in our medical community and the AHA in consuming these. Sadly, much of our established medical community, health associations and our United States government recommendations have not caught up to the latest science.

Unsaturated fats: there are fewer hydrogen atoms that are bonded to the carbon atoms therefore they are not saturated and are unsaturated. They are considered double bonds. They are liquid at room temperatures. These mainly come from vegetables, seeds, nuts and some fish. They come in two different forms: These are: 

Monounsaturated fats or MUFAS: these have only one chemical bond (indicated by “mono”). They are liquid at room temperature but do become solid when refrigerated. MUFAS are found in avocados, olives and olive oil, canola, safflower, sesame and peanut oils, almonds, pecans, cashews and hazelnuts as well as a few other nuts. Nut butters therefore also contain MUFAs. MUFA rich whole and natural foods are part of a heart healthy Mediterranean Diet but industrially and artificially processed seed oils are not. Olives, olive oil, avocados and nuts are indeed healthy. These can be anti-inflammatory, may help maintain blood sugar and insulin levels and maintain healthy blood vessels. All fats though, including MUFAs, are high in calories so eat them in moderation. Omega-9s are MUFAs and oleic acid is the most common Omega-9 in our diet. Omega-9s are not “essential” as our body does make them. They have been found to decrease inflammation and to improve insulin sensitivity.

Polyunsaturated fats: these have more than one chemical bond (hence, “poly”).  And there are two types of polyunsaturated fats. These are Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids.  Omega refers to the tail end of the molecular chain. Research has demonstrated the important need for fatty acids in our diet, especially Omega-3 fatty acids. Both are indeed “essential,” meaning our body does not make them so we must eat them!

Looking at what the scientific research tells us, we can lower our risk of cardiovascular disease by eating oily fish high in Omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon. Recent studies also indicate that Omega-3’s are important in our brain health and may reduce the risk or severity of depression, dementia and Alzheimers disease!  They are an important nutritional source in combating inflammation. They can also help us in maintaining a healthy weight and waist line and can reduce liver fat.

Low Omega-3 consumption may contribute to chronic diseases and conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and neurological diseases like Parkinsons. Our typical western or SAD diet contains too many Omega-6s and not enough Omega-3s. There are three forms of Omega-3 fatty acids.  They are:

EPA or Eicosapentaenoic acid: present mostly in cold water, fatty fish like salmon, herring and mackeral. These are especially known to reduce inflammation though may also be important in reducing symptoms of depression. EPA produces a type of eicosanoids that are anti-inflammatory.

DHA or Docosahexaenoic acid: present also in fish like salmon and anchovies. DHA is important in brain growth, development and function. 

ALA or Alpha-linolenic acid: present in plants, nuts and vegetable oils is believed to benefit our heart, as well as our immune and nervous systems. It can also be converted to EPA or DHA if required.

Omega-6 fatty acids are primarily found in seeds, nuts, vegetable oils and green leafy vegetables. They are also essential. We must consume them in our diet. As you can guess, the highly processed industrial oils are not the healthiest way to consume these! It is best to consume them by eating the seeds, nuts and green leafy vegetables in their natural, whole food state. The most common form of Omega-6 in our diet is linoleic acid. Our body often converts this to arachidonic acid or AA. Like EPA above, AA also produces eicosanoids but AA eicosanoids are pro-inflammatory. This then can actually increase the risk of inflammation and inflammatory diseases.

Research explains that it is most important then for us to balance the ratio of consuming these two types of fatty acids. We need to consume more Omega-3s than Omega-6s. A diet high in Omega-6s disrupts this balance and promotes inflammatory processes in our bodies, These then can cause blood vessel damage leading to atherosclerosis, insulin resistance and leptin resistance which are all factors in cardiovascular disease.

Recent research also demonstrates that some people, based on their genetics, may have a higher inflammatory response to linoleic acid, the predominant form of fatty acid in industrial oils. Linoleic acid unfortunately promotes body fat storage and is attributed to the unhealthy visceral fat. It also makes our fat more insulin sensitive and therefore our fat takes in more blood glucose for storage. This is converted to triglycerides for storage. All this contributes to obesity, visceral fat build up, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Some studies indicate that linoleic acid is at a greater fault in the obesity epidemic in America than saturated animal fats.

Trans fats are made almost exclusively in the industrial process called hydrogenation. Manufacturers add hydrogen to the various vegetable oils to make them become solid at room temperature and to add taste, spread-ability and texture as well as to increase shelf life. Hydrogenated vegetable oils can be found in many commercially available foods like peanut butter or baked goods. This is because they are less likely to go rancid. This is because they are more resistant to oxidation. This helps increase their shelf life which is important to food manufacturers.

A very minor amount may also be present naturally in animal products like dairy and red meat. You can find trans fats in processed, highly refined foods like donuts, cookies, crackers, cakes and such as well as in French fries, frozen pizza, microwave popcorn and margarines. Even though these foods taste good, those with manufactured trans fats are not heart healthy! They are often referred to as Frankenfats!  Read nutritional labels carefully! 

Heart Healthy Oils

By now, you may have guessed at which oils are indeed heart healthy! Certainly not the industrial seed or so-called vegetable oils! Heart healthy oils also depend on what you are using them for.

For example, if you are cooking with them in high heat, you should use ones with a high smoke point. The smoke point is the temperature that the healthy fat or oil begins to break down and “smokes’. This then decreases the nutritional value of the healthy oil that you chose it for in the first place. Once they pass their smoke point, oxidation takes place and these oxidized fats can also lead then to inflammation and cell death. Choose from those with a high smoke point for cooking. These are light (not extra-virgin) olive oil, ghee, avocado oil, expeller-pressed coconut oil, macadamia nut oil, or algae oil. Beef tallow also has a high smoke point.

Heart healthy fats or oils that are best used out of high heat are butter, extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), and extra-virgin coconut oil. These have low smoke points. They are better choices when you are cooking with lower heat and are great for any foods that are already cooked like adding them to cooked vegetables or for salads and such.  EVOO is a great choice for salad dressing!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Matters of the heart are important to each and every one of us! The bottom line is… you need to be an educated shopper! Read labels and stay away from all industrial seed or vegetable oils and trans fats!  Get your essential Omega-6 fatty acids from the whole, healthy natural food choices.

We at Rehab House Call want your healthspan to equal your lifespan!

If you need any further guidance or a PANTRY MAKEOVER, please do call 951-955-0451 or CLICK HERE NOW for a FREE CONSULTATION with one of our highly qualified Certified Health Coaches!  They are here to help guide and support you in reaching your heart health goals!

Make your Valentine’s Day or that of a loved one’s all the more special this year! Your heart matters!

REFERENCES

1. Cummins, Ivor and Gerber, Jeffry. “Eat Rich and Live Long Victory Belt”. Publishing Inc, 2018
2. “Debunking the Myth of Heart-Healthy Oils.” by Christensen, Lindsay, M.S., CNS at Chriskresser.com