We have been programmed. For 30 years we have been told that we need to eat more healthy grains and to eat vegetable fats rather than animal fats. And the result? The epidemic of chronic disease and obesity has exploded. All this has taken place in 30 years - demanding that we look for a cause - something new in our diet.
The smoking gun is the Food Guide. The epidemic took off starting in 1987. At current rates, 100% of Americans will be obese by 2048!
At the heart of the new advice in 1987 was to eat less animal fat and more "healthy" grains. Inside this was the belief that margarine and vegetable oils were better for us too. Neither of which had ever been eaten by humans before and all of which required massive processing.
Here is the skinny on vegetable oils from Wellness Mama:
As an interesting correlation, check out the rates of heart disease and cancer since then. As this article notes:
All one has to do is look at the statistics to know that it isn’t true. Butter consumption at the turn of the century was eighteen pounds per person per year, and the use of vegetable oils almost nonexistent. Yet cancer and heart disease were rare. Today butter consumption hovers just above four pounds per person per year while vegetable oil consumption has soared–and cancer and heart disease are endemic.
Since the 1950′s these vegetable oils and their derivatives have been increasingly used in processed foods and for frying or cooking. They are marketed as healthy because they contain monounsaturated fats and some level of Omega 3 fatty acids.
What’s Wrong with Vegetable Oils?
There are many problems with vegetable oil consumption, and in my opinion, no amount is safe. To understand why, let’s look at a few of the biggest problems with vegetable oils:
Our Bodies Aren’t Meant to Consume Them!
The human body is about 97% saturated and monounsaturated fat, with only 3 % Polyunsaturated fats. Half of that three percent is Omega-3 fats, and that balance needs to be there. Vegetable oils contain very high levels of polyunsaturated fats, and these oils have replaced many of the saturated fats in our diets since the 1950s.
The body needs fats for rebuilding cells and hormone production, but it has to use the building blocks we give it. When we give it a high concentration of polyunsaturated fats instead of the ratios it needs, it has no choice but to incorporate these fats into our cells during cell repair and creation.
The problem is that polyunsaturated fats are highly unstable and oxidize easily in the body (if they haven’t already oxidized during processing or by light exposure while sitting on the grocery store shelf). These oxidized fats cause inflammation and mutation in cells.
In arterial cells, these mutations cause inflammation that can clog arteries. When these fats are incorporated into skin cells, their mutation causes skin cancer. (This is why people often get the most dangerous forms of skin cancer in places where they are never exposed to the sun, but that is a topic for another day!)
When these oils are incorporated into cells in reproductive tissue, some evidence suggests that this can spur problems like endometriosis and PCOS. In short, the body is made up of saturated and monounsaturated fats, and it needs these for optimal health.
