Thoughts on Seed Oil

Seed oils vs overall diet quality

• Many argue the main problem is the ultra-processed Western diet and excess calories, not seed oils specifically.
• Others think seed oils may still matter, especially because they’re cheap, ubiquitous, and make junk food more profitable and abundant.
• Several people treat “seed oil in the ingredients” as a practical proxy for “highly processed food to avoid.”

Frying, oxidation, and fat types

• Disagreement over how important oil choice is for fried foods.
• One side: reused seed oils at high heat degrade, oxidize, and possibly create more inflammatory byproducts than saturated fats.
• The other side: typical fryer temps are below major trans-fat formation; the bigger issue is that fried foods are calorie-dense, low in nutrients and fiber, regardless of oil.
• Some suggest that if only tallow were used, fried food would be pricier and less common.

Cholesterol, LDL, and saturated fat

• Debate over whether raising LDL is clearly harmful.
• Several commenters emphasize consensus that LDL/ApoB causally drive atherosclerosis and support medication plus diet.
• Others claim the “high cholesterol scare” is overstated and note that dietary cholesterol itself is no longer seen as a major concern.
• Concern is raised that swapping seed oils for saturated fats could worsen LDL.

Relative risks vs exercise and smoking

• One line of discussion argues seed oils are a distraction compared with much larger risks like low fitness and smoking.
• Others counter that people can address both exercise and diet, and that the hazard from seed oils is not quantified, so dismissing it outright is premature.
• There is side discussion on smoking’s impact on BMI and whether smoking-related weight loss changes mortality risk (consensus: smoking still clearly worse overall).

Evidence and research ambiguity

• Some point to rodent studies where high linoleic acid or unsaturated fat diets promote tumors, while saturated-fat diets do not.
• Others respond that rodent cancer models and broader literature do not yet provide clear, directly applicable evidence that seed oils are dangerous for humans.
• Overall sentiment: data on large harms from seed oils in humans is ambiguous; stronger evidence exists for harms from excess total fat, calories, and ultra-processed food.

Processed food, industry, and practical takeaways

• Multiple comments stress that capitalism optimizes food for shelf life, cost, and palatability, not health.
• Seed oils are framed by some as another “food bogeyman” in a long line of oversimplified villains.
• Common practical stance: prioritize minimally processed foods, moderate all fats, exercise regularly; some personally avoid seed oils as a low-cost precaution, others see no strong reason to.