Seed Oils May Lower Your Risk Of Heart Disease

This is a video interview with an actual specialist, researcher, who has studied this in trials for 25 years… That’s the Lockheed Martin Engineer equivalent of missiles.

Based on current evidence no difference between cold-pressed vs. extracted seed oils. It’s perfectly healthy to use canola oil on some salad, and in fact, it’s better than EVOO most likely, but EVOO is still good…

Studies comparing it with saturated fat improves a ton of biomarkers.

Just another fad health panic: “SEED OILS!”, but of course it’s near impossible to deprogram a cult member…

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It’s unfortunate RFK has taken this one on, as the evidence isn’t what he claims. His focus on eliminating or decreasing processed foods seems quite valuable. We are spending 3 trillion/year on conditions caused by poor lifestyle choices.

In regard to oil, I don’t see any reason to have it in one’s diet. Naturally things are confounded by the fact that processed foods tend to have canola or soybean oil, etc, but it’s the junk food, not the oil component that is the problem.

Overall, CAD and AD look to be improved slightly with seed oils, BUT that is compared to replacing saturated fats with them. What about vs. adding no fats?

EVOO probably is sensible, in limited quantities, if you are using added fats. One should be aware of a short shelf life and need to buy an EVOO that hasn’t been sitting on the grocery store shelf for 6 months post pressing it.

A critical part of the equation is the need to optimize Omega 3 index, which is competed for with Omega 6 fatty acids. So supplementing and measuring levels is sensible to ensure that you don’t push Omega 3 (DHA/EPA) down as a result of having too much Omega 6’s. The neuroinflammation that has been reported seems to be in the context of a poor diet, and no measuring of Omega 3’s.

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“but of course, it’s near impossible to deprogram a cult member”

My research years ago proved to me that canola oil was not a “clear and present danger.”
In fact, some studies have suggested that canola oil might actually be healthier than EVOO.
I must admit I still take some EVOO daily based on its popularity with various health gurus. Also, I have noticed no significant effect on my lipids or other blood markers.
Bemepdoic acid and Ezetimibe have had a much more significant impact.
Because I naturally have EVOO on hand for salad dressing, cooking, etc., I will continue to take a small dose daily based on a leap of faith and not any real scientific evidence.

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EVOO has about the same omega-6 as canola oil, but canola has a bunch of alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3).

EVOO preference over canola except for taste, is superstition and that can be okay too. Using some cold pressed canola oil and flaxseed oil (rich in alpha-linoleic acid) on a salad seems like a healthy superstition though. I would think about deficiencies in linolenic acid and alpha-linolenic acid when excluding seed oils as they are an easy source.

Susceptibility to superstitions probably depends on total polygenic risk score (accumulation of genetic variants) of schizophrenia.

Compared to canola oil, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) contains significantly less omega-3 fatty acids; while canola oil is considered one of the highest sources of plant-based omega-3s, EVOO has only a very small amount, making canola oil have a much higher concentration of omega-3 than EVOO. Of note EVOO is very high in polyphenols, and is primarily Omega 9, not Omega 6 fatty acid based.

@AnUser The problem is that the Omega 3 in Canola is 9-11%, but it isn’t DHA/EPA and if your Omega 6 level is high, then very little of this Omega 3 will ever get converted to DHA/EPA.

Here is what Vera-Health.ai says on this - I’d just caution, I don’t think Omega 6’s are proinflammatory, except in the situation of inadequate Omega 3 index (DHA+EPA) and the source of the Omega 6’s being highly processed foods.
Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is predominantly composed of monounsaturated fats, particularly oleic acid, which is an omega-9 fatty acid. The oleic acid content in EVOO typically ranges from 55-83% of the total fatty acids. In contrast, the omega-6 fatty acids, primarily linoleic acid, constitute a smaller portion, generally 3.5-21% of the total fatty acids. Therefore, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-9 in EVOO is significantly skewed towards omega-9, with a typical ratio ranging from 1:5 to 1:15.

This composition is beneficial for health, as the high content of omega-9 fatty acids, particularly oleic acid, is associated with improved cardiovascular health and reduced inflammation. The relatively low proportion of omega-6 fatty acids is advantageous because diets high in omega-6 relative to omega-3 fatty acids have been linked to inflammatory processes and various chronic diseases. The favorable fatty acid profile of EVOO contributes to its reputation as a healthy oil within the Mediterranean diet.

Here are a couple of resources from Dr. Joel Khan in this topic:

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I forgot it was oleic acid (omega-9) that is pretty much similar between canola oil and EVOO. The increase in linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid is replacing mostly the saturated fats in EVOO IIRC. Both essential fats.

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I’ll give you a pass on that one … remember when I forgot you can make vitamin D in your skin …

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Do folks here have any opinion about high oleic sunflower and high oleic sunflower oil as an alternative or complement to the EVOO and avocado oil staples?

Polyunsaturated fats is much better than monunsaturated fats when it comes to lowering apoB when replacing saturated fat, and they are essential. Canola also has the lowest saturated fat of them all. For that reason I think canola is the super star, in low amounts though because it’s high in calories.

I think it’s probably healthier to have some small amounts of canola oil every day than none at all. It’s truly the oil you’d want to take a shot with as it gives you both essential linoleic and alpha-linoleic acid. Meaning without consuming those two fats you’re proven to become unhealthy as shown in feeding tube studies.

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This study seems to imply tat MUFA may be best for what everyone eventually cares about (ACM). I wonder if the improvement in APoB is offset by something must more important or… if the researchers failed to properly control for confounders.

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AFAIK most of the PUFA trials show benefits or are neutral on other markers.
Either way the causal relationship between apoB and disease is so well established that for me it supersedes believing an intervention could offset that effect if it doesn’t have as good of evidence as it. There can be a lot of residual confounding in association studies.

If you’re following a typically healthy diet today and avoid seed oils simply having some canola oil can alleviate deficiency in linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid. So small amounts are in almost all cases good and it’s a more palatable and shelf stable intervention to cook with it or have some on salad than other foods.

ACM is hard to detect. Healthspan is important. An intervention can prevent strokes and heart attacks that you don’t want but not really show an effect on mortality because modern medicine can prevent people from dying. So there isn’t enough deaths in both groups to show a statistically significant effect in most cases and why MACE is important.

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It’s good to have your Omega 3 index tested. My father just had his done and we were shocked to find out it was only 4%!!! He even takes 750 mg of Ultra Omega-3 supplements. We think his problem is that he loves peanuts (all Omega-6) and has cut out fish due to worries about methionine.

He’s now taking 1.5 g of Ultra Omega-3 and eating fish (salmon or sardines) twice a week and switching from peanuts to walnuts as his go-to snack. We’ll re-measure his index in about 6 months and hopefully, things will change for the better.

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Please allow me to say that EVOO is best not bought in grocery stores, even here in Italy, which is one of the main producers.

It took me a while to find some producers of hi-polyphenols EVOO, even if living in one of the regions with an excellent reputation for EVOO production.
The best strategy is to buy a certified hi-polyphenols EVOO with a Bag-in-box vessel. The loss of nutrients in such packaging seems to be pretty small.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349029872_Effects_of_bag-in-box_packaging_on_long-term_shelf_life_of_extra_virgin_olive_oil

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I didn’t know about bag in box.

I’ll share that I’ve learned, if budget allows, aim for EVOO that shows when it was harvested on the bottle. Additionally, it’s ideal if it shares the exact region of the olives (naming the town is better than saying just Italy, for example).

Olives for this year are being harvested/processed and will soon be available. Current fresh EVOO would have been harvested 11/23. To Grant’s and Mccoy’s point, unless it says otherwise, EVOO in the grocery stores can be several years old.

@mccoy It sounds like you know more about this than I do, so please correct me if any of this is not accurate.

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What are everyone’s favorite EVOO brands? I’ve been using:

  1. By default: Kirkland Siganture Organic Olive oil
  2. More occasionally, mainly for salads: Barani.

I’ve also experimented with California Olive Ranch as my default go-to and tried Berkeley Olive Grove once in the past.

But I’ve been wondering lately if there are better options in terms of health benefits (polyphenols, etc) and cost.

References I personally found valuable enough to bookmark:

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Yes, as Dr. Fraser correctly pointed out, after 6 months EVOO, in traditional steel packages and glass bottles, starts to degrade chemically. On the package harvest time is not always displayed. EVOO in grocery stores and supermarkets, besides the possibility of being of the old harvest, is often a mixture of EVOOs with low quality and polyphenols content. An article was written on this, analyzing a sample of EVOO on the shelves of the Italian supermarket. The quality as a whole was poor.
These are examples of bag in box excellent quality EVOOs, both from coratina variety in southern Italy.
image
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I’m browsing the links, they report some exceptionally high concentrations of polyphenols, this makes me curious since I never tasted higher than 700-800 mg/kg. Such values are to be taken in consideration only if by third-party labs. Also, they are valid only for that specific harvest. I remember the Italian Oilalà, last in the list, one year was 750 mg/kg, next year was 350 mg/kg, about half the quantity of polyphenols.

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I’ve been browsing some of the brands proposed but the prices seem to be extremely high. They are specialty brands not to be used daily, or perhaps half a tablespoon per day. If some declared concentration of polyphenols are really so high, 1/2 tbsp is enough.

Organic Tricarico Coratina in Italy costs about 13-14 US$ per liter, I eat on average from 2 to 4 tablespoons per day. Last year it had a declared polyphenols concentration of 700 mg/kg.

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Only concern would be microplastics, at the same time, there’s already so much in the food system and everywhere else that it doesn’t matter so much (unless someone microwaves things in plastic).

This EVOO had a great taste when I tried it, high in polyphenols too. Does it seem good? Unlike any EVOO I had tasted before, texture wise.

EVOO characterized by a well-balanced aroma with medium level of fruitiness and medium-high level of bitterness and pungency; prevalent hints of green almonds, artichoke and fresh herbs complemented by spicy sensations of pepper and arugula; level of polyphenols usually between 600 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg (measured using HPLC method)

https://www.kaliagri.it/

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