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READ MORE: Doctors warn oil may be fueling colon cancers in young people
A leading doctor has revealed how bad seed oils actually are for you and the food item that poses an even greater risk.
Seed oils, including sunflower, canola, corn and grapeseed have recently found themselves at the center of a
raging health debate across the world
.
Numerous experts believe the oils increase inflammation, which in turn is linked to conditions such as type 2
diabetes
, heart disease,
depression
and
Alzheimer’s
.
During his short-lived presidential campaign, Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr even waged war on seed oils, claiming Americans were being ‘unknowingly poisoned’ by them and asked citizens to use animal fat instead.
However, Dr Mark Hyman, a practicing family physician has revealed that cooking with seed oils is actually safer than butter or bacon fat.
While on a recent episode of Huberman Lab podcast with Dr Andrew Huberman, he noted that data on how harmful seed oils are is ‘mixed’ and not clear.
He stated: “The idea behind seed oils is their high content of Omega-6 fatty acids. This creates an imbalance when compared to Omega-3 levels. As a result, this can lead to inflammation. Additionally, issues arise from how these oils are manufactured and cultivated. Often, they come from genetically modified organisms.”
‘Might I be inclined to consume an industrially produced food item? Likely not. Is there definitive evidence that this poses a concern? I believe the information available is inconclusive.’
Moreover, the doctor noted that consuming saturated fats like those found in butter along with refined sugars such as muffins and bagels can be significantly detrimental to one’s health.
“Don’t spread butter on a bagel; instead, use it on your broccoli because the combination of saturated fat and refined starches is what’s harming us,” Dr. Hyman pointed out.
Dr. Hyman indicated that for maintaining good health, individuals should consume whole-food fats such as avocados, coconut, fish, olive oil, nuts, and seeds – key elements of the Mediterranean dietary pattern.
In March 2025, a comprehensive 30-year research conducted at Harvard University involving more than 200,000 adults was published.
discovered individuals opting for cooking with seed oils rather than butter had a lower likelihood of dying from any cause.
including cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
In the meantime, those who used butter were at an increased risk of succumbing to death from
cancer
or any cause.
The research team was ‘astonished’ to discover that substituting less than one tablespoon of butter with an equivalent quantity of oil reduced the total mortality rate by 17%, a finding they described as having ‘quite significant positive impacts on health.’
This suggestion was made because seed oils contain less saturated fat compared to butter, and higher levels of saturated fats have been associated with a greater risk of heart attacks, strokes, and certain types of cancers.
Dr. Daniel Wang, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the study’s author, remarked, “Individuals may wish to think about making a straightforward change in their diet—substituting butter with soybean or olive oil—as this could result in substantial long-term health advantages.”
‘Public health-wise, this represents a significant number of fatalities due to cancer or other chronic illnesses that have the potential for prevention.’
Heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death in America, claiming approximately 900,000 and 600,000 lives each year, respectively.
According to certain estimations, the typical American ingests nearly 100 pounds of seed oils annually, marking an increase of approximately 1,000 times since the 1950s. These oils gained popularity in the United States thereafter.
WW2
thanks to agricultural advances.
In the meantime, according to recent statistics from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the average American consumed approximately 6.5 pounds of butter in 2023. This trend might indicate a shift towards using seed oils instead of butter.
But despite clear proof, some of America’s biggest restaurant chains are signing on with the RFK Jr’s mission to get rid of seed oils and begun changing how they cook your favorite fast food meals.
Earlier this year, the steak-focused restaurant chain Steak ‘n Shake revealed plans to switch entirely from using vegetable oil to beef tallow as the frying medium for their fries across all their locations nationally.
Popeyes, which employs oil for frying both their chicken and French fries, has now shifted to using beef tallow as well.
Outback Steakhouse mentioned that they have been serving wings, fried mushrooms, fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, and their iconic Bloomin’ Onion in beef tallow since 1988 without ever discontinuing this practice.
In the meantime, Buffalo Wild Wings apparently now utilizes beef tallow derived from beef fat for frying their French fries, onion rings, mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, and wings.
Regarding the salad chain Sweetgreen, they have transitioned from using seed oils to employing extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil for cooking their vegetables and proteins.
These alterations might extend further shortly, as RFK Jr. has additionally had meetings with the heads of prominent food corporations such as General Mills, Kellogg’s, The Kraft Heinz Company, and PepsiCo.
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