Processed Vegetable Oils Do More Harm Than Good

In response to research and public opinion, many restaurants have since turned from partially hydrogenated oils to 100 percent vegetable oil. However, while these oils do not have trans fats, they’re just as bad, if not worse. There are three significant reasons for this:

1. When heated, vegetable oils degrade to extremely toxic oxidation products, including cyclic aldehydes,² which have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases and certain types of cancer. In her book, Teicholz cites research showing that aldehydes cause toxic shock in animals through gastric damage
2. Vegetable oils are a concentrated source of omega-6 linoleic acid, which has led to a severe imbalance between the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in most people’s diets
3. Many of the vegetable oils produced today — especially corn and soy — are products of genetic engineering (GE) and a significant source of glyphosate exposure, and glyphosate has also been linked to gut damage and other health problems

In addition, processed vegetable oils (polyunsaturated fat) harm health by:

4. Creating high amounts of oxidation products when used in cooking (as they are very susceptible to heat), including aldehydes, which are what cause oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) associated with heart disease. Aldehydes also crosslink tau protein and create neurofibrillary tangles, thereby contributing to the development of neurodegenerative diseases.

5. Damaging the endothelium (the cells lining your blood vessels) and causing an increase in penetration of LDL and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) particles into the subendothelium. In other words, these oils get integrated in your cell and mitochondrial membranes, and once these membranes are impaired, it sets the stage for all sorts of health problems.

6. Damaging your mitochondria and DNA by making your cell membranes more permeable, allowing things to enter that shouldn’t.

7. Making the cell membrane less fluid, which impacts hormone transporters in the cell membrane and slows your metabolic rate.

8. Inhibiting cardiolipin, an important component of the inner membrane of your mitochondria that needs to be saturated in DHA in order for it to function properly. Cardiolipin can be likened to a cellular alarm system that triggers apoptosis (cell death) by signaling caspase-3 when something goes wrong with the cell. If the cardiolipin is not saturated with DHA, it cannot signal caspase-3, and hence apoptosis does not occur. As a result, dysfunctional cells are allowed to continue to grow, which can turn into a cancerous cell.

9. Inhibiting the removal of senescent cells, i.e., aged, damaged or crippled cells that have lost the ability to reproduce and produce inflammatory cytokines that rapidly accelerate disease and aging.

10. Stripping your liver of glutathione (which produces antioxidant enzymes), thereby lowering your antioxidant defenses.3

11. Inhibiting delta-6 desaturase (delta-6), an enzyme involved in the conversion of short-chained omega-3s to longer chained omega-3s in your liver.4

12. Exposing you to toxic 4-hydroxynonenal (4HNE), which forms during the processing of most vegetable oils, even if the oil is obtained from organic crops. 4HNE is highly toxic, especially to your gut bacteria, and consumption of 4HNE has been correlated with having an obesogenic balance of gut flora. It also causes DNA damage and instigates free radical cascades that damage your mitochondrial membranes.5

13. Exposing you to glyphosate residues, as most vegetable oils are made with genetically engineered crops. Glyphosate has been shown to disrupt the tight junctions in your gut and increase penetration of foreign invaders, especially heated proteins, which can cause allergies.