Debunking Cooking Oil Myths: Understanding Fats, Processing, and Inflammation for Optimal Health

This podcast episode meticulously debunks widespread misinformation surrounding cooking oils, asserting that much popular advice is "100% completely backwards." The core argument centers on the fundamental chemistry of fats: polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), while essential for specific biological functions, are inherently unstable and highly reactive, making them unsuitable for cooking due to their low smoke points and propensity to degrade into harmful compounds. In contrast, saturated and monounsaturated fats are presented as more stable and appropriate for culinary applications, challenging long-held dietary dogmas.\n\nA critical distinction is drawn between the raw source of a fat (e.g., flaxseed, avocado) and the industrial processing it undergoes. The host explains that many seemingly healthy plant-based oils are subjected to harsh refinement processes, including solvent extraction with hexane, degumming, bleaching, and deodorizing. These processes not only strip the oils of beneficial properties but also pre-damage them, even if they result in a high smoke point. The concept of smoke point itself is re-evaluated, suggesting that a high smoke point in a refined oil might indicate extensive processing rather than inherent healthfulness. The episode emphasizes that essential PUFAs should be obtained from fresh, whole foods where they are protected, rather than from processed oils.\n\nPractical recommendations include a strong caution against cooking with highly polyunsaturated oils like flaxseed, soybean, canola, and safflower, due to their pro-inflammatory potential when heated. Even avocado oil, despite its healthy origin, is only recommended in its unrefined, extra virgin form for dressings, not for cooking, as most commercial avocado cooking oils are refined and damaged. The podcast advocates for unprocessed or gently processed fats for cooking, such as unrefined extra virgin olive oil (for low to medium heat), coconut oil (highly saturated but with a moderate smoke point due to shorter chain fatty acids), butter (with careful attention to protein residue), and ghee (clarified butter, ideal for high-heat cooking due to removed solids). Deep frying is strongly discouraged due to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the detrimental effects of repeatedly heated oil.\n\nBeyond specific oils, the discussion broadens to critique the industrialization of food production, stressing that the *processing* and *raising* of food (e.g., grass-fed vs. grain-fed meat) are far more crucial to health than its mere label. The host challenges decades of dietary guidelines concerning saturated fat, citing "more recent research" that suggests a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality with higher saturated fat intake, noting that some countries are even removing upper limits. The overarching implication is that chronic low-grade inflammation, oxidative damage, and insulin resistance, often exacerbated by unhealthy fats and processing, are common mechanisms underlying "virtually all degenerative disease," urging a fundamental shift in how we perceive and prepare our food.

How is it that popular advice on cooking oil is not only difference between different sources but often completely confident there are few areas as riddled with misinformation as bad of cooking oil and what kind of fast to cook our food in.

in my mind this isn't just wrong it is 100% completely backwards.

polyunsaturated fatty acids have some theory important properties they are also extremely unstable remely so.

the more unsaturated it becomes the more stable it becomes because these double bombs are dissatisfied they are very reactive they're looking for a place they're looking for a way to fill this vacant space.

in order to get as much oil out of the seed or the bean as possible they use solvent extraction in the most popular one is called hexane that's kind of like gasoline or diesel it's in the petrochemical family.

whenever you have a sensitive fatty acid and you expose it to oxygen and heat and light and pressure now these are going to react the fatty acid the double bonds are going to react with hydrogen and oxygen and you get something for reactive oxygen species which are very very damaging to tissues.

it is almost as bad as sugar in promoting insulin resistance it promotes elevated glucose levels and most importantly it promotes inflammation and not the huge healthy inflammation that you get when you hurt yourself as part of healing but you get the chronic low-grade inflammation that is associated with virtually all degenerative disease that we know of.

more recent research shows that the higher your intake of saturated fat to lower the risk of heart disease lower the risk of diabetes and all-cause mortality.

it's not the label that we give something it's not whether it's chicken or fish or potato it's where has it been and how has it been processed that has to be more of our way because the biggest problem with our food production it is nothing like it was 50 years ago it's become an industrialized process.

never ever try to get your unsaturated fatty acids from and oil.