There’s a new bogeyman in the nutrition world: vegetable oil, especially so-called “industrial seed oils” like canola, corn, and soybean oils. Nutrition influencers on Twitter, TikTok, and elsewhere are telling their followers that these oils are sneakily unhealthy, downright dangerous, or even “the worst food in human history,” according to DoctorKiltz.com.
The most prominent voices are advocates for low-carbohydrate and keto diets, eating patterns that have helped many people with diabetes improve their blood sugar management. So, should people be avoiding industrial seed oils?
Let’s be clear up front: Most nutrition authorities, like The American Heart Association and Harvard Health Publishing, believe that vegetable oils, even highly processed and refined veggie oils, are healthy.
Such claims are disputed by many sources, both expert and amateur alike. Some of the strongest voices arguing that industrial seed oils are unhealthy are (to be frank) vague, anecdotal, and conspiratorial. But some are doctors and nutritionists with citations to many academic studies and trials.
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Everyone, on both sides of the debate, agrees on a few important points:
- Most of us are eating too many calories.
- Vegetable oils constitute a huge percentage of those excess calories.
- Vegetable oils are ubiquitous in highly-processed and fried foods.
- Most of us should be eating fewer highly-processed and fried foods.
