Doctors once believed that ditching the butter and switching to vegetable oils was a healthier alternative that would help decrease one’s chances of developing certain health issues. It turns out, the data that they were using may not have been analyzed correctly, and vegetable oils could actually heighten the risk of some diseases such as heart disease. Rather than decreasing the risk, it actually increased.
Clearly, vegetable oil is not as healthy as once thought, but let’s break down what vegetable oil actually is, the different kinds of vegetable oils, and how vegetable oils can be harmful.
There are over 1,000 vegetable species known, so what is vegetable oil exactly? The name itself sounds fairly broad.
Vegetable oil is an overarching term used to describe any oil that is made from plants. It’s a catch-all term that encompasses many different kinds of seed and plant oils.
Using that definition, there are several different kinds of vegetable oils. Let’s list out some common ones you’re used to seeing:
A lot of these you may already know aren’t great for you, but then you’ll also see olive oil and coconut oil on the list. Those are supposed to be good, right? What’s the difference?
Next time you’re at the grocery store, flip over the bottle of vegetable oil and look at the ingredients. Chances are, you’ll see “Soybean Oil” listed as the main ingredient.
Why wouldn’t they just call it soybean oil instead? Well, people are more likely to buy vegetable oil as opposed to soybean oil, so it could very well be marketing related, and any plant oil can be called vegetable oil, so brands are able to get away with it.
The Daily Meal even mentions that vegetable oil is an odorless and flavorless oil, and by naming it something as specific as soybean oil, consumers may assume that the oil will also contain the flavor soybeans.
The vegetable oils that you buy on the shelf are typically high in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats rather than omega-3’s.
We need a good balance between omega-3’s and omega-6’s. However, over time we have been consuming way more omega-6’s than omega-3’s, and that imbalance is causing a slew of issues like:
The list continues, and health continues to decline more and more as these inflammatory oils are consumed.
Coconut oil and olive oil have lower levels of omega-6’s, and soybean, cottonseed, corn, and sunflower oils all have higher levels of omega-6’s.
Instead of choosing vegetable or canola oil, next time switch to either olive or avocado oil. The smoke point is similar, and these are a Wake Up and Read the Labels APPROVED clean swap.
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