Seed Oils And Your Health

The cooking oils you use every day can affect your cholesterol, blood sugar and overall heart health. You might have heard friends talk about seed oils, tallow or other types of fats. Some types of oils may help reduce inflammation in your body, while others might increase it.

This guide explains what research tells us about different seed oils and how they might impact your health.

Key Takeaways: Seed Oils

• Seed oils have research-backed benefits. Oils such as canola, sesame, and flaxseed can help lower cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar, making them a healthier choice than saturated fats.
• Their reputation is often tied to unhealthy foods. The negative perception of seed oils often comes from their presence in highly processed foods that contain high amounts of sugar and salt.
• Focus on overall diet, not a single oil. The most important factor for health is your entire dietary pattern rather than the consumption of any single food or type of oil.
• Scientific consensus supports their inclusion. Current scientific recommendations support incorporating seed oils into a healthy diet until more personalized nutritional guidance becomes available.

What Research Shows About Seed Oils

Scientists have studied several types of seed oils and oil blends to see how they affect people's health. Here's what they found:

Fortified Canola Oil

Fortified canola oil has been enhanced with extra nutrients. Studies show it can help lower blood sugar when you haven't eaten (called fasting blood sugar) and reduce triglycerides (a type of fat in your blood). When researchers compared it to regular canola oil and sunflower oil, the fortified canola oil version worked better.

Sesame Oil

Research found that sesame oil can lower both cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Sesame oil also helps your body fight damage from harmful molecules called free radicals. In one 2019 study, people who used white sesame oil instead of soybean oil had better blood sugar control, including lower A1c levels (which show your average blood sugar over 2-3 months). They also had higher levels of helpful enzymes that protect against cell damage.

Flaxseed Oil

Flaxseed oil has been shown to reduce cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar. When compared to sunflower oil, both oils helped lower total cholesterol, "bad" LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

Pomegranate Seed Oil

Pomegranate seed oil helps your cells take in sugar more effectively by increasing something called GLUT-4, which moves sugar into your cells. This led to lower fasting blood sugar levels. It also reduced triglycerides and improved the balance between triglycerides and "good" HDL cholesterol. Plus, it lowered TNF-alpha, a marker that shows inflammation in your body.

High Oleic Soybean Oil (HOSBO)

When researchers compared high oleic soybean oil to palm oil, people using the soybean oil had lower levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol and other harmful particles in their blood. Regular soybean oil has been shown to lower cholesterol compared to saturated fats, but it doesn't seem to change inflammation levels much either way.

Oil Blends

One study looked at a mix of rice bran, flaxseed and sesame oils. Compared to regular refined oil, this blend helped reduce total cholesterol, "bad" LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, blood pressure and blood sugar. However, people using the oil blend gained a small amount of weight, and this blend didn't improve "good" HDL cholesterol or a protein called apoA1 that helps remove excess cholesterol from the body.

Making Sense Of Scientific Research On Seed Oils

"Most research on seed oils has some problems that make it hard to draw firm conclusions," said Mariela Santos Carballo, internal medicine nurse practitioner at Franciscan Physician Network Hammond Clinic. "Many studies included only a few people or were short-term. In some studies, both participants and researchers knew which oil was being tested, which could affect their behavior and the results."

Despite these limitations, most scientists agree that seed oils are better for your cholesterol levels than saturated fats like butter, coconut oil, and palm oil.

Why the controversy?

If seed oils are generally good for you, why do some people say they're harmful?

"Two nutrition experts, Dr. Martti Marklund from Johns Hopkins and Dr. Christopher Gardner from Stanford, believe the confusion comes from processed foods," Carballo said. "These foods often contain seed oils along with too much salt, sugar, additives, and unhealthy fats. The problem isn't the seed oil itself – it's all the other unhealthy ingredients. As Dr. Gardner puts it, this is 'association, not causation.'"

The future of nutrition

Scientists are working on something called nutrigenomics – the study of how your genes affect how your body responds to different nutrients.

"This means that in the future, we might be able to give people personalized nutrition advice based on their individual genetic makeup," Carballo said. "Different people might respond differently to the same foods because of their genes."

Researchers are also studying how different nutrients affect your immune system and whether they cause inflammation that can lead to heart disease and other health problems.

The Bottom Line

Until we have more personalized nutrition guidance, it's best to follow current scientific recommendations, which generally support using seed oils as part of a healthy diet.

"Remember that no single food or type of oil is a magic solution," Carballo said. "Your overall eating pattern matters most for your health."