The Surprising Benefits of Cooking with Vegetable Oil

The Surprising Benefits of Cooking with Vegetable Oil

Producer Potts 0:18

So Dr, Sarah, learning that vegetable oils are not unhealthy has been a bit mind bending, but I’m trying to turn the corner on that. So are there any health benefits to vegetable and seed oils?

Dr. Sarah 0:37

Yes, it is actually beneficial for our health to consume vegetable oils. Very specifically, vegetable oils are all oils made from like the endosperm of a plant, which basically means the seed of a plant, that are high in a type of omega six polyunsaturated fatty acid called linoleic acid, and a huge variety of studies done in humans, both like prospective cohort studies, where they look at how much you eat, and they put you in different categories, and then look at your health outcomes, as well as intervention clinical trials, where they say, Hey, now I want you To consume all of this sunflower seed oil or safflower oil, those studies show actually measurable benefits to our health from consuming vegetable oils linoleic acid, very specifically, by reducing all cause mortality, a general indicator of health and longevity, And one of our best ways to just kind of gage whether or not something is good or bad for us overall, but then also lowers risk of coronary artery disease and stroke and cardiovascular disease mortality reduces risk of type two diabetes and metabolic syndrome, which is kind of the collection of insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease risk factors. And there’s even some data. It’s basically, it’s it’s in that phase where it’s just starting to become like enough to be able to really conclusively say lowers risk of breast cancer, although it doesn’t appear as the vegetable oil consumption affects cancer risk overall. So terms of cancer risk, not a big effect, but in terms of breast cancer, somewhat of a mild beneficial effect. I am looking at my notes, and there’s one more, which is mortality from cancer, there is a lower risk. So even though it doesn’t impact cancer incidence, it does impact cancer mortality. And not only that, not only are those the benefits, and let’s I think we should actually like quote statistics from studies that look at how much to get, how much benefit, because I think that’s really important for really busting the myth that vegetable oils are the cause of these issues, compared to the science that shows they reduce risk. So the opposite of that. But also, there’s so much data in humans, there’s so many clinical trials in humans, that we have huge systematic reviews and meta analyzes, which are pooling together all of that data to measure the overall effect where the preponderance of evidence lies in the scientific community supporting the benefits of vegetable oils, and that’s really important, because that has a higher level of like rigor and like solidity of scientific evidence than looking at any one specific trial. So also that includes like things like conflicts of interest and funding, because that’s something we always hear come up again and again. Yes. So meta analyzes as part of their like analysis, when they are figuring out what studies to include. They evaluate studies for risk of bias as well as the quality of the study design, and they can wait how much they can either decide like not to include a study because it’s a terrible study, or they can include it, but wait how much it It contributes to the results based on those types of measurements. So if a study is at high risk of bias, it’s a it’s a terrible design, it’s not likely to actually provide really important insight. It might be included in the analysis, but given a lower weight than a study that’s like super double blind and has all the right controls and has a really big data set and has all the most like rigorous quantitative measurements. So a study that has really great design is really high quality might contribute to that overall analysis a little bit more. So all of that is is, like integrated into the really sophisticated statistics that they do in meta analyzes. And why? Again, meta analyzes are. Are and systematic reviews and Umbrella reviews are the highest level of scientific evidence. They are the most trustworthy science we have, because, again, it’s not just one experiment. It’s not just, you know, one small group of people. It is all of the different studies that are trying to answer the same question, all of that evidence put together into one study. So we really get to see where all of the evidence is. So we’re not, we can’t, we can’t cherry pick. Like, systematic reviews are like the opposite of cherry picking.

Producer Potts 5:35

Gotcha. Okay. And then one other point, because I’m sure if I’m thinking about it, other people are thinking about it, there is, like a difference in quality and processing and chemicals used in processing. So I think maybe we should cover that in another video. So everyone just stick a pin in that, and we will cover that in another video. But I do think what you said about going into the amounts and how much that improves, like the actual statistics, would actually be really helpful. So yeah, let’s do that.

Dr. Sarah 6:05

For sure. And it’s worthwhile emphasizing that in these studies, are using the same vegetable oil as what you can get at the grocery store for these studies, so they’re not using like a special organic, cold pressed sunflower oil or something or other. Wow. Okay, occasionally, there are studies like that that exist, right, that are very specifically comparing right, extra virgin olive oil versus a refined olive oil. There are studies like that out there. But when we’re looking at these, like big questions of, are vegetable oils good or bad, we’re looking at the same thing that you buy, not just at your local like Safeway or Kroger, but like your dollar tree, like we’re looking at the most basic option of what you can get at the store. So don’t think that, Oh, those those benefits are only because it was like a special type of vegetable oil. It is exactly what you can buy for cheap at your grocery store.

Producer Potts 7:09

That’s so good to know. Fascinating, okay, I will, yeah, let’s get to the all the statistics and the numbers, then that that would be good to know.

Dr. Sarah 7:17

I’m gonna, I’m gonna pull them up in front of me so I can make sure I’m quoting them exactly. Yeah, no, no, that’s great. I should note, before we get into quoting these exact studies, I am pulling this directly from my like, giant, epic new article busting all of the myths about vegetable oils that are available at Nutrivore.com so if people want to go look at the actual, like papers themselves, the citations, all of that is in the article. So, so head head there because there’s even they’re hyperlinked. So there’s, it’s as easy as it possibly can be for you to go and read the original science for yourself, if that’s something that you want to dive into.

So let’s start with all cause mortality as a general indicator of health and longevity. But typically, these are evaluated in the same studies as cause specific mortality, so they usually look at cardiovascular disease mortality and cancer mortality. So here are the statistics. This comes from a 2020, systematic review and meta analysis. It analyzed 44 studies that encompassed over 800,000 study participants, and they looked at both dietary intake of linoleic acid, so how much vegetable oil and other food sources of linoleic acid are in the diet, but also markers of linoleic acid, so how much is actually in tissues. So those are basically considered like two different ways of measuring the same thing, and what they showed was the highest versus lowest amount of linoleic acid. So the people with the most in their body had a 13% reduced risk of total mortality, all cause mortality, compared to the people who had the lowest levels. Whether you measured it from diet or biomarkers, they also had a 13% lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and an 11% lower risk of cancer mortality, which is a very significant effect, and when the study authors analyzed based on standard deviation. So like that, adding a level of intake, they showed that for each step up that the study participants did in intake, that reduced all cause mortality by 9% cardiovascular disease mortality by 11% and cancer mortality by 9% different way of looking at the same data, still a very impressive magnitude of effect.

Producer Potts 9:43

That’s, I mean, I think, you know, like I said, really trying to wrap our heads around this idea that vegetable oils aren’t bad, but you’re just taking it that further step and being like, no, look at this. And to know, to hear. You read these numbers, and to think back to your comment about this could be like canola oil from the Dollar Tree is actually just, it’s really, it’s really mind bending, but it’s also so fascinating. It just kind of shows, you know you can, you can think you know something or learn something because you explain in another video, which I’ll make sure to link here. Of like, why it was actually very logical for us to think that these were harmful for us. So like, it made sense that we thought that. But now we looked at human studies versus rodent studies a bunch of other stuff. You explained that in the other video. Go watch that other video. If you catch up with where I’m at with Sarah today in my brain, but to think about all of that, and then to hear about these benefits, it’s it’s interesting because it almost takes me back to, like, there was a time period where everyone thought eggs were so awful, and like, eggs are so nutrient dense. They’re packed with so many nutrients. So it’s just like, I think there can be this, like, idea of like, oh, well, this was bad, and now it’s good, and what am I supposed to do? And this is confusing, but it’s like, I think there’s a realization that you’ve said before that Nutritional Sciences is so young compared to other sciences we have, and we’re going to continue to learn and discover and progress and like, this is good news. This is an affordable, accessible product that’s also good for us. Got something to celebrate versus like, be upset about, you know.

Dr. Sarah 11:43

And stop obsessing about food labels, right? Like, how many shirtless grocery store Walker wellness influences are out there telling you to check the label for industrial seed oils and how they’re toxic and inflammatory. And I wasn’t even thinking about stuff in packages. Oh my gosh, yes, yes, wow. Okay, mind blown. So here’s, here’s, here’s the thing that’s really important is that, um, that fear mongering about seed oils, industrial seed oils, processed, you know, vegetable oils, all of the inflammatory language that’s used to describe vegetable oils. Get it. Get it, inflammatory language. Get it, yes, yes, yes, I get it. It is making you afraid of a food that’s actually good for you, that would actually lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. So that fear beyond the stress response and how harmful that is, is changing your dietary habits, unless you completely swap out for olive oil, which definitely is still the king of, you know, beneficial oils. But there’s lots of other things that you might be swapping them out for, and you may be net like negative effect on your health because of all of these vegetable oil myths that are out there, fear mongering and actually beneficial healthy food. So it’s, it’s not just, it’s not just that I want to help people understand that these are myths and not be afraid of vegetable oils. It’s that I want people to better understand what a you know, health promoting dietary composition is, and that actually includes choosing some vegetable oils, especially canola. Canola is can of worms. We’re gonna, we’re gonna do it in another video. I keep, I keep saying canola oil in another video, but we’re sure gonna do it. But like, especially canola oil in addition to olive oil, like having olive oil and not canola, maybe not as good as having both. I mean, that is, that is how great canola oil is. And I think that it goes completely against all of the myths I can already hear the angry the angry typing in the comment section, just saying that, but that’s why I have done such an incredibly rigorous, deep dive into the scientific literature, to bust these myths, so that you have all of the citations and links directly to them, so you can go read the original science for yourself and just see how solid this body of scientific evidence is showing health benefits to vegetable oils.

Producer Potts 14:27

Yeah, and just for the audience listening, it was from Sarah that I learned to avoid seed oils. So she’s been where we all are right now. So it’s not just it’s coming from a place of like I was wrong.

Dr. Sarah 14:46

And I’m trying to correct the record on that I was wrong about vegetable oils, right? And I want to make sure that, because I bought into these myths as well the science, like the explanation based on cell culture studies and mechanism. Studies made a whole lot of sense to me, so I want to make sure that I am busting those myths, because they they’re they’re everywhere, and we’re all susceptible to believing them. And that’s that’s also why I have such an epic deep dive article for you to read going through all of this science, because it takes that kind of deep dive to actually effectively bust such a like pervasive and ubiquitous myth, right? This myth is it’s deep and it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere, all all across the wellness, yes.

So Sarah has the deep dive article, which I’ll make sure it’s here. But also, we’re doing all of these different videos. We keep saying we’re going to do this. We actually are doing all of these videos as they are posted on YouTube. I will actually make a playlist for everyone and put them all in there so that you guys can all easily find them. And if that video hasn’t been done yet, no, it’s coming where it’ll you know, we we put our video, our longer videos, out on Tuesdays and Fridays, so you can keep an eye out for that. And we do welcome comments. There might be follow up videos we need to make, but just keep your comments like angry comments and approach with curiosity. That’s all that we ask. So ask a genuine question, and I will answer it yes, if you just have angry things to say, No, thank you. No, thank you. Yeah, just shout into a pillow instead, it will be about as effective.

Dr. Sarah 16:34

Okay, let’s, let’s, let’s talk about the other health benefits of vegetable oil, like just moving right along. Wait, there’s more. Oh, yes, I thought that I I was mind boggling. I didn’t even realize there was more. Okay, I’m gonna, yeah, go ahead. We’re not even done. I had no I genuinely had no idea. I thought you were like, wrapping up the video. Okay, go, go. Vegetable Oils also reduce risk of cardiovascular disease. The strongest evidence is for hemorrhagic stroke and coronary heart disease. So this comes from a 2014 systematic review and meta analysis that encompassed over 310,000 study participants and found that the highest intake of linoleic acid versus the lowest reduced risk of coronary heart disease events by 15% on top of a 21% lower risk of coronary heart disease related deaths and a 2020 systematic review and meta analysis that included 11 Studies and almost 48,000 study participants found that the highest versus lowest intake of linoleic acid reduced risk of hemorrhagic stroke by 13% and there’s more, okay, okay, okay, vegetable oil reduces risk of type two diabetes, which, Wait a minute, yeah, what I know, right? So a 2021 systematic review, and this meta analysis did a dose response. It encompassed 31 studies and 380,000 study participants, found that highest versus lowest linoleic acid intake reduced risk of developing type two diabetes by 6% but then they showed that for every 5% increase in energy from linoleic acid, so that means like, if I’m getting 5% of my calories from linoleic acid versus 10% of my calories from linoleic acid, that that drops type two diabetes risk by 10% and then when they looked at
biomarkers, so looked at markers in fat tissue, adipose tissue or blood, they showed that for every standard deviation increment, which basically is kind of similar that to going from like 5% to 10% calories, It’s just a different way of kind of measuring those jumps risk of type two diabetes decreased by 15% these are not this is not even the only meta analysis. There was a 2017, pooled analysis of 20 studies that included nearly 40,000 adults that also showed that the higher the biomarkers of linoleic acid as a percentage of total faceted acids, the lower the risk of type two diabetes. So yeah, vegetable oil also reduces risk of type two diabetes. And then, as I think I mentioned at the top, there is overall vegetable oil seem to have no effect on cancer incidents, sort of like broadly, but there is a pretty, like growing body of evidence showing that it reduces risk of breast cancer specifically. So there was a 2016 meta analysis. Case of eight studies, but it included 359,000 adult females, and found that breast cancer risk decreased by 1% for every 10 grams per day of linoleic acid intake. So they showed that the when they compared high versus low, they needed more data the the protective effect was still not statistically significant, so it will put a little asterisk behind the vegetable oil reduces breast cancer disease risk, and say we’re still at a point where, like, the statistical power, even when we pool together these studies to compare high versus low intake is not quite high enough to say with absolute certainty that it decreases risk, but we do have growing evidence to that effect. So we just need, we just need more more science on that one.

Producer Potts 20:53

So I just my I’m thinking of the original video we did where you talked about all the studies that are showing, like, why we were wrong about how we thought about vegetable oils, right and like, that was a huge amount of scientific studies, and now we have, now you’re sharing all of these studies, which you’ve quoted a few studies, but these studies include right, a ton of studies in them. So this whole, there’s this whole idea in the wellness space that I’ve seen come up since you published your article, and it’s like this idea that there’s some big, bad, overarching corporation or the government in general that is giving us all this information about vegetable oils in order to keep us sick so they can start so they can keep making money off of us, and just like that, sounds ridiculous next to this amount of scientific studies. You know, it’s just almost like it makes it. It makes it. What I’m saying is it makes it sound more ridiculous than it did. It already sounds very conspiracy, conspiracy theory, you know, kind of type thinking. But also, even if there was some sort of like, because you’ve said, with every myth, there’s kind of a seed of truth like this has just blown this all out of the water, like, so far as, like, oh well, big food or whatever, you know. So I think I just appreciate you diving into all of this and laying this all out, because I think it just really kind of makes that sound really silly, and squashes that whole thing.

Dr. Sarah 22:42

I hope so. I know that, you know, some people really believe conspiracy theories, and it’s really hard to be open to evidence that contradicts them, if that’s you and you’re watching this video, like round of applause for like, just being here and listening. I think that’s amazing. I understand how easy it is to just kind of, you know, put on those blinders and not not want to challenge our previously held beliefs. And I think with vegetable oils being so demonized by like, like, many different diets across sort of health conscious communities for so long, right? Like vegetable oils as toxic myths go back a couple of decades now, I think that, you know, it’s why, again, I’ve done such a thorough summary of the scientific literature to combat that. You know, it’s, it’s, it’s like vegetable oil mist or brick wall. We need a, we did a big machine to break through that brick wall. So fair. He gave us a sledgehammer, I think, yeah, I think I just said that my article in vegetable oils is basically the the Kool Aid, the Kool Aid man, right, breaking through the wall. Yeah, I think that’s, I think that’s what I just said, exactly.

Dr. Sarah 24:08

Wow, this was so great. I I’m gonna be re listening to this myself to, like, really absorb all these different health benefits again. Because, you know, I think hearing how good it is gives you the the push to be like, Okay, next I’m in the grocery store. I’m not just gonna get my olive oil. I’m also gonna look for canola, canola oil, canola right? We can do it. We could do it. Okay? Thank you so much for this. Again. We will link the article. I will make sure there’s a playlist we’re diving into all this stuff. So thank you all for being here, and thank you, Dr Sarah for the sledgehammer. Thank you. Bye.