by Mila McManus, MD
Have you ever wondered how industrial seed oils went from machine lubricant to “heart healthy” cooking oils overnight?
In 1948, the American Heart Association was a tiny, struggling organization with little influence. That is, until Procter & Gamble showed up with a “donation” of $1.7 million (the equivalent of $20M today). Procter & Gamble had already changed American cooking once before. In 1911, they launched Crisco, the first shortening product made with cottonseed oil.
By the 1940s, they had already spent decades convincing Americans that industrial seed oils were better than traditional animal fats like butter and tallow, using the now notorious slogan “it’s digestible.”
Armed with P&G’s million-dollar donation, the American Heart Association would give seed oils the ultimate stamp of approval: “heart healthy.”
From that point on:
✅ Seed oils were in
❌ Animal fats were out
📈 Chronic disease started skyrocketing
💰 Big Food got richer, and America got sicker
This single “donation” helped transform industrial waste into one of the most consumed ingredients in our food supply. And that’s just the beginning of the story.
On November 22nd, a new documentary, “Fed A Lie,” was released. Please take time to watch it. In it, the full story is revealed about how industrial seed oils infiltrated our food supply and their correlation to the sudden rise in obesity and chronic disease. This is bigger than just seed oils. It’s about taking back control of our health from an industry that profits from keeping us sick.
Here at The Woodlands Institute for Health & Wellness, we are strong supporters of removing seed oils to prevent disease. In the order of most harmful listed first, soybean, sunflower, grape seed, cottonseed, corn, rice bran, and canola are detrimental to your health. If you struggle with obesity, diabetes, weight gain in the belly, high blood pressure, cancer, high cholesterol or high LDL lipids, or any other chronic disease, eliminating seed oils is critical to improvement. Look for it in bakery items (donuts, pastries, cookies), salad dressings, packaged and bagged foods (chips, nut mixes, crackers, frozen meals), pre-seasoned or prepped meals, and all fast food.
Avocado, olive, palm, and coconut oils are less inflammatory oils. We recommend cooking only in saturated fats such as butter, ghee, beef tallow, pork or duck fat, and palm or coconut oil. Use avocado and olive oils only for cold preparations, such as salad dressing and hummus.
Skip Seed Oils. Get Well!
References
https://ninateicholz.com/about/the-big-fat-surprise
https://chrisknobbe.com/book
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3335257/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22334255/
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.756122/full