4th of the 5 Worst Pieces Of Nutrition Advice

Nutrition is an inexact science.  There have been a number of flip flops over the years as certain foods fall in or out of favor.  We are hopefully getting closer to the nutritional truth.  Unfortunately, there are many individuals in the field that hold onto antiquated theories. 

The top 5 contenders for the worst diet advice in history will be examined this week.

The fourth of the five worst pieces of nutritional advice:

Use Polyunsaturated Vegetable Oils For Cooking - Before World War II, coconut oil was used extensively for cooking and frying in the United States.  During the war, we lost our supply of coconuts and after the war, coconut oil never returned to their pre-war status.   

Today, we are commonly advised to consume seed and vegetable oils that are high in polyunsaturated fats. These oils, including soybean, corn, canola and cottonseed oils, which have been shown in some studies to lower cholesterol levels. If something lowers cholesterol, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will prevent heart disease itself. Cholesterol is considered one risk factor, but it’s the hard end points (like heart attacks and death) that really matter.  Those 4 "healthy" oils, soybean, corn, canola and cottonseed oils, are also the 4 biggest GMO crops in America!

There are actually a number of studies showing that despite lowering cholesterol, these oils can increase the risk of heart disease. Additionally, these oils are harmful for a number of other reasons. They’re loaded with polyunsaturated fats, but most of them are Omega-6’s. Humans need to eat Omega-6 and Omega-3 fatty acids in a certain balance, which is currently way off because people are eating so much of these oils and getting too much Omega 6's.

Eating a diet high Omega-6's and low in Omega-3's, can contribute to inflammation in the body and inflammation is one of the key drivers of almost every chronic, Western disease. These fatty acids also get incorporated into cell membranes, but polyunsaturated fats can react with oxygen and start free-radical chain reactions in the cell membranes, which can damage important molecules like proteins or DNA.

Additionally, what most people don’t realize is that due to the way these oils are processed (which involves high heat and the toxic solvent hexane), they are loaded with trans fats and toxins. In fact, a study on canola and soybean oils sold in the U.S. found that 0.56 to 4.2% of the fatty acids in them were trans fats!

Many so-called “experts” are actually telling people to cook with these oils, which is a terrible idea because polyunsaturated fats are sensitive to heat and damage very easily and change their chemical composition to a much less healthy oil. 

The healthiest oil for cooking and frying is still coconut oil.  The disadvantage of coconut oil is that you can taste it in the food.  Canola oil on the other hand, doesn't change the taste of the food.  That is why Whole Foods told me that they use Canola in their prepared foods.  I had contacted national headquarters to inquire why an unhealthy GMO oil was being used rather than a healthy natural oil, such as coconut oil?  It appears that Whole Foods is more concerned with taste over health.

For More Information:

http://www.hungryforchange.tv/article/the-5-worst-pieces-of-nutrition-advice