Fats and Oils

Is the conventional health industry harming us?

Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, the ideals of human nutrition have been twisted enormously to the point where most widely held health claims are actually the very things that are destablising our health. The topic of fats and oils are no exception. The current claim that polyunsaturated fats and oils are the healthy option is seriously flawed and saturated fats have been so convincingly demonised, it is rare to see them as an ingredient in any food anymore. Yet science shows that in reality it is the polyunsaturated fats, particularly in the forms that we consume it, that are causing havoc in our bodies.

The story is long and a bit convoluted, but looking back into past diets, saturated fats were always there, and our bodies know how to deal with them (they are actually very important components for our health, particularly for the normal formation of hormones). Possibly a little counter intuitively, our ancestors did not tend to cook with vegetable oils like we do, especially at high temperatures (even the Chinese cooled their woks down with some water before adding oils). Instead they consumed them as a whole food, ie as seeds and nuts and cooked with a variety of saturated fats - meat fat, dairy fat, palm or coconut oil.

What is an unsaturated oil?

The unsaturated part of oils (part of their chemical chain) leaves them open to reaction with other molecules, especially oxygen leading to oxidation. Oxidation of all oils or fats is accelerated by heat and UV light. Highly unsaturated oils, such as Omega-3 oils are extremely vulnerable to oxidation at even low temperatures.

On the other hand saturated oils are stable (their molecules are 'full') and have to reach relatively high temperatures before their structure can be modified and potentially oxidised.

For the record, oils tend to be liquids at room temperature while fats remain in a solid state, but in all the words ‘oil' and ‘fat' refer to the same thing. Likewise all vegetable oils (derived from plant parts) have some degree of unsaturation, so ‘vegetable oil' and ‘unsaturated oil' are terms often used interchangeably. Olive oil is quite unique and does not quite fall into either category for the purposes of this discussion.

It seems that the vivid mental image of fats (slimy, glistening white/grey/yellowish material) has helped perpetuate the myth of its association with clogging arteries, cellulose and hence poor health. But that is another story for when we delve into the myths of cholesterol. But is it a myth nonetheless!

So what is wrong with oxidized unsaturated oil?

Well apart from the unpleasant (rancid film left on the tongue) taste, oxidized oils turn into free radicals - yes, those molecules that run riot in our bodies destroying body tissues, and are now being linked to everything from ageing through to all our autoimmune diseases. For the record, I am not stating that unsaturated oils are the sole cause of all our woes, but hey, they are high up on the list I suspect.

Now nature has a clever way of counteracting this problem - they package up unsaturated oils with antioxidants, those molecules that neutralize free radicals. Research is discovering that those seeds with high unsaturated oil contents, e.g. flax or hemp seeds, also have very high levels and potencies of antioxidants! Coincidence???

Antioxidants come in all shapes and sizes, and for reasons that will unfold below, one of them happens to be Vitamin E.

So our ancestors naturally protected themselves by eating wholefoods - they got the benefits of the unsaturated oils (and all the other goodies nature tends to include), but with the protection of antioxidants simultaneously - all hermetically sealed from oxygen and light inside a seed.

Then the food manufacturer enters the picture, driven by profit. They sell convenience, and over time end up selling health and the consumer becomes their eager customer. The promotion of the soy oil industry while saturated oils were aggressively demonised is a really interesting read into how businesses can manipulate information and research and continues to do today (see 1 or 2 ). But at the end of the day the unsaturated oil industry emerged on the market place, and in turn the unsaturated oil industry dealt with the rancidity/oxidation problem by simply removing the offending items, e.g. Omega-3 and Vitamin E, and deodorizing it. Essentially what is left is a ‘dead' oil high in Omega-6 that can be put on a shelf for long periods of time in heat and sunlight. The ideal environment for making profits over long distances and times.

What is the Omega-6 : Omega-3 ratio?

Crudely speaking Omega-6 coagulates blood and Omega-3 thins it. So as you can imagine the ratio of these two are very important and given that our diets are now so high in Omega-6, supplementing daily with Omega-3, e.g. fish oil, evening primrose oil and flax oil, has brought some enormous relief to many people, and even the food manufacturers are now jumping on the bandwagon and adding it back into foods, even food that never had it originally!. But there is a catch. Omega-3 is still a highly unsaturated oil and very vulnerable to oxidation (hence why it was removed from our food in the first place). It readily reacts with oxygen both outside AND inside the body, ie it can produce free radicals inside our body, those same molecules linked with so many of our human health woes! As for the food manufacturers, it is difficult to understand how they can put Omega-3 back into foods without it going rancid - perhaps there is a chemical sleigh of hand going on - as seems to be happening with trans-fats (see below).

Now one of the first things a poor Omega-6 : Omega-3 ratio does to our body is create havoc in our skin, e.g. eczema, dryness, itchiness. The unsaturated oil industry, perhaps unwittingly, sells its waste Vitamin E to the body care industry to produce creams to soothe the skin. Ironic isn't it. The unsaturated oil industry removes the Omega-3 and its associated antioxidant which likely exacerbates many skin conditions, then in turn sells the antioxidant back to relieve the problem - the corporate mantra ‘create a problem then sell the solution' seems relevant here.

For some it is hard to believe that our diets are that dominated by unsaturated oils to be able to have such a universal effect - after all, you only use a spoonful of oil, if that, when you cook a meal at home. Perhaps it was that way a few decades ago, but you only need sit down with a few processed food labels to see what is happening, and unfortunately most restaurants, even the more well-to-do ones, now use out-of-the-jar ingredients too. It is very hard to avoid these oils. Manufacturers have learnt to remodel their oils (and rename them) to substitute for a variety of other natural ingredients - e.g. margarine for butter, hydrogenated oils for a variety of texture enhancers, unsaturated oils for brine etc. These oils have become so cheap and malleable that they are put into just about everything and can often be found quite high up on the ingredients list (ie it is one of the main ingredients, not just in trace amounts)!

Why are unsaturated oils so cheap?

It takes less energy, hence in theory cost, to raise a plant than an animal, and through selection manufacturers have honed down their interest to those crops that produce unsaturated oils the cheapest - namely canola oil and soybean oil, and now cottonseed oil (because it is a cheap by-product of a relatively lucrative crop). Curiously all these oils were never traditionally consumed by humans (soybean was traditionally used as a fermented food product, not as oil) and there are many alarming stories about their suitability for human consumption (see 1 or 2). Other oils are available, but are slowly disappearing unless they have a unique trait to keep their sales up, such as taste (e.g sesame oil) or so-called health benefits (grape-seed oil).

When oil is squeezed out of a seed or nut mechanically, it is near impossible to squeeze out every drop. That is until solvents came to the rescue. Solvents, which act like detergents, can dissolve every last drop of oil out of a seed or nut. The solvent can then be recollected and recycled over and over again making it a very cost-effective process. Unfortunately solvents are not compatible with human health, and the solvent of choice in the unsaturated oil industry is hexane, a renowned carcinogenic substance even in small quantities. The industry argues that only minute traces are left after the solvent is removed, but some opponents do not agree, and others state that even in minute quantities it builds up in the body over time.

It is important to note that often it is the use or non-use of a solvent that delineates a cold-pressed oil from a ‘lite' oil. Cold-pressed means mechanically derived or pressed often under below boiling temperatures - which would logically be the preferred option if you chose to consume unsaturated oils. ‘Lite' oils generally refer to those oils that are derived using a solvent (ie when no more oil could be squeezed out, chemicals are brought in). The oils are often a much lighter colour as the more robust rich oils have already been removed. The term ‘lite' is extraordinarily confusing and can mean a number of things - but in all cases, when oils or any other food item is described as ‘lite', beware!

What is hydrogenation and trans-fats?

Unsaturated oils were limited to liquid products initially because they are naturally liquid at room temperatures, but the development of hydrogenation changed that dramatically. Hydrogenation is a chemical process that changes the chemical structure of the oil, with the unfortunate side effect of twisting many of the unsaturated parts of an oil molecule as well. Admittedly even just heating unsaturated oils, such as in cooking, will form these twisted molecules but at relatively lower concentrations.

Hydrogenation is primarily used to make unsaturated oils 1) more stable and 2) semi-solid at room temperature (ie give it the characteristics of saturated fats). Suddenly the market for unsaturated oils opened up. With the help of a clever health campaign attached to it, it moved into an unimaginable range of food products, from margarines all the way through to just about every processed food item on the supermarket shelf or freezer.

Apart for the health implications of Omega-3 and Vitamin E deficient unsaturated oils laced with hexane that oxidize on heating to form free radicals, these oils were now undergoing a molecular reconstruction not unlike that used to produce thalidomide. It was through the tragedy of thalidomide (where children were born without limbs etc) that they discovered that when some molecules twist they can cause very unexpected, but dramatic outcomes. These twisted molecules are referred to as being ‘trans'. Since that discovery the drug industry has been able to filter out ‘trans' thalidomide and it is now considered a safe drug. But not so for the hydrogenated oil industry.

The alarm bells about ‘trans-fats' started at least back in the 70s, if not before, but the momentum of the profit driven industry and its associated health claims were impenetrable - after all, even the heart foundation endorses polyunsaturated oils in all its forms. The wave has finally hit America and is slowly hitting the airwaves in Australia as I write. The first step has been to force manufacturers to list trans-fat content on their labels, many of whom are still dragging their feet, and others are finding fancy ways around it, but the watchdogs are finally moving into place. New York city has even gone as far as to ban it from all restaurants. But the most perplexing part for me is the seeming exemption of margarine from all the brouhaha - after all it is king of the trans-fat nearly by definition!

I have to admit I have been left scratching my head as to how you can remove trans-fats when they are a natural by-product of heating and hydrogenating unsaturated oils. But I think I might have stumbled across one method for which chemists have come to the rescue! A new interesterified fat is being used. It is a modified fat that includes hydrogenation followed by rearrangements of fats molecules by the process called interesterification and is already known to raise blood glucose and depresses insulin, both precursors to diabetes, and like trans-fat, the new fat also lowers good "HDL" cholesterol. Mmmmm.....

In addition, Monsanto is jumping up in excitment and talking up their new GM soybean which has lower Omega-3 levels. True, it may reduce trans-fat formation by a minute amount, but really.....the bulk of the oil is still unsaturated Omega-6s etc. Besides, isnt it Omega-3s that are missing from our diet? 

So what is wrong with saturated fats?

Yes, what is wrong with saturated fats - they are natural, stable, vital to the function of many of our bodily processes. Perhaps there are good and bad aspects which I will follow through later (animal fats vs coconut and palm oil, production of homocysteine etc). But like all things - moderation in all things is probably a wisest way to approach life. If given the choice, head for the product closest to its natural state. For me, cold-pressed olive oil for liquid oil requirements and perhaps cold-pressed unsaturated oils in extremely small quantities used with low heat, but really nuts and seeds are the preferred choice when it comes to any unsaturated oil. As for cooking, saturated oils win every time - the flavour, texture and overall goodness is unbeatable.

References

I am yet to go through and fully link this article to other articles and documents that are up on the website - for which there are plenty. So for any query I strongly recommend googling some keywords and seeing what comes up.  

'Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill' by Udo Erasmus

'Saturated Fat may Save your Life' by Bruce Fife

'The Healing Miracles of Coconut Oil' by Bruce Fife

'Nourishing Traditions' by Sally Fallon with Mary G Enig

'Hemp in Australia Today' by Carolyn Ditchfield