This week I'm talking about seed oils, wellness villains, and how quickly repeated messages can start sounding like facts.
Also, a reminder that while traveling is fun - nothing beats home.
🍽 The Main Course: Canola and Sunflower and Corn Oils, Oh My!
A couple weeks ago someone I was with at a food truck pod ordered Thai food. He said he chose it because it was the only truck there that doesn’t use seed oils.
I asked if he had an allergy.
"No," he said. "But haven't you seen it? It's everywhere now. Seed oils are really bad for you."
So I asked:
"What about them worries you?"
Pause.
"I'm not sure. I just keep seeing it everywhere. "
And I totally understand that.
Because if we hear something often enough — podcasts, Instagram, headlines, wellness influencers — it does start feeling true.
Which seems to be a pretty familiar wellness industry pattern:
Confidence: 100%
Explanation: still loading...please wait 🙃
So seed oils are the current wellness Voldemort. The villain.
~~~~~
To be fair, some of the concern around seed oils isn't completely made up out of thin air.
Yes, there are studies looking at oxidation under certain conditions. And there are animal studies using very high amounts.
Also, yes, on the other hand there are studies suggesting that certain seed oils improve cardiovascular outcomes in people.
But regardless, here's what often happens:
"What MIGHT create a negative outcome under very specific circumstances" becomes:
"This ingredient is dangerous."
And social media is very, very good at speeding that process up.
Part of the challenge in this case is that seed oils often arrive alongside other things that make it difficult to separate out what's actually driving any outcomes.
So:
"French fries are unhealthy"
becomes:
"The oil is unhealthy"
which becomes:
"Seed oils are toxic."
And eventually those ideas start showing up everywhere: menus, labels, podcasts, wellness marketing... and food trucks.
~~~~~
I really don't think there's much to worry about in terms of the oils foods are cooked with.
But I do worry when we become increasingly afraid of ingredients that weren't even on our radar a month ago.
Because fear spreads faster than nuance.
And... food stress has a cost too.
🔍 The Fine Print: Compared to What?
A great question to ask when you see nutrition headlines and health claims is:
Compared to what?
Studies don’t compare a food to… nothing. They compare it to another food.
So when headlines say things like:
“People who ate more ABC had XYZ health outcomes.”
…the "compared to what?" question matters.
And it’s definitely left out of the headlines. Sometimes what gets interpreted as:
“This food is healthy.”
is actually:
“This food performed better than the alternative.”
Or:
“This ingredient is unhealthy.”
when the study may actually be saying:
“This ingredient performed worse than the comparison.”
Those are not the same conclusion.
The comparison group often tells you as much as the result.
Which doesn’t mean ignore nutrition research.
Just maybe don’t hand out villain capes too quickly.
🏡 Sweet Moment(s): Ahhhhh
After another week away, this felt pretty great. Home sweet home.
Curious about next week's topic? Guilty verdicts, motion that isn't action, and Benny has objections.
I'd love to hear from you!
Until next time - more dogs, less dogma. Always.
Carol
P.S. New here? Welcome! Curious about past issues? You can find them, here.
