For decades, public health officials have promoted industrial seed oils—corn, canola, soybean, and sunflower, to name a few—as healthy replacements for traditional animal fats. Dr. Cate Shanahan, a family physician and author of “Dark Calories” and “Deep Nutrition,” believes the opposite. Dr. Shanahan argues that these oils are uniquely toxic and the primary drivers of modern metabolic and neurological disease. Seed oils are the “number one source of brain-damaging calories in our food supply,” she says. She unpacks how these oils generate toxic aldehydes when processed and heated. She reveals how the post-2000 trans-fat ban inadvertently made fried foods more unhealthy. And she examines the correlation between the dramatic rise in seed oil consumption and the near doubling of obesity rates. She answers some important questions. Do seed oils lead to mitochondrial dysfunction? Has mainstream nutrition science largely ignored seed oil risks? And what steps can people take to remove seed oils and restore traditional fats to their diets?
AI Generated·May contain errors
Seed oils put the junk in junk food.
We've been told for decades that seed oils
are a healthier alternative to traditional saturated fats.
But is that really the case?
The fatty acids in seed oils are a very poor source
of fuel for mitochondrial energy generation.
It's kind of like putting the wrong kind of fuel in your car.
The engine could run hot. You get a lot of smog and pollution.
That's exactly what happens inside the cell.
Dr. Kate Shanahan is a board-certified family physician
and author of multiple books, including Dark Calories.
In this episode, she unpacks how seed oils affect cell function,
cause inflammation, and increase long-term disease risk.
The average American is getting somewhere between 60
and 80 percent of their total fat calories from these seed oils.
This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Yannick Kellek.
