That was a provocative opening line, but this new study is a massive contribution to the ever popular seed oil conversation. This study included over 200,000 people with an average follow up of 33 years examining total plant oil intake, as well as intakes of specific plant oils vs. the intake of butter on cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, & all cause mortality PMID: (40048719). The results showed that the highest quartile of butter intake increased the risk of mortality by 15% whereas the highest total plant oil intake quartile saw a 16% decrease in mortality vs. the lowest quartile of intake. When the researchers removed olive oil (known to have health benefits) from total plant oil intake, there was still an 8% reduction in mortality risk from highest to lowest intake. These results generally held across subgroup analysis. They also found that every 10g increment in total plant oil intake was associated with a 11% decreased risk of cancer mortality, & a 6% lower risk of CVD mortality whereas each 10g increase in butter intake increased the risk of cancer mortality by 12%. Moreover, each 5g increment increase canola oil & soy oil intake reduced the risk of cancer mortality by 19% & 6% respectively
The researchers also examined the effect of replacing butter with plant oils. For each 10g of butter replaced with plant oils, there was a decreased risk of both mortality & cancer mortality by 17%. These results held even when removing olive oil from total plant oil counts. When examining the effects of different types of preparations (frying, baking, etc) the results also generally held regardless of the method.
Additionally, when examining individual oils, the results generally mirrored total plant oil intake when comparing highest to lowest intakes. Corn oil was associated with a 7% increased risk of mortality, but it did not reach statistical significance. Safflower oil was associated with a 9% decrease in mortality but it also did not reach significance. Canola, soy, & olive oil were all associated with statistically significant reductions in mortality of 10%, 9%, & 18% respectively. This study will likely generate significant ire from the anti-seed oil group but the reality is the ‘evidence’ they use to scare you over seed oils is all mechanistic in nature or is cherry picked. If seed oils were so horrible for you, then at minimum we would expect to see at least a small detrimental effect on mortality, but in reality we see the opposite in the actual human outcome data. This is pretty clear evidence that at minimum, seed oils are not inherently risky to consume outside of the calories they contain.
I fully expect the anti-seed oil crew to show up here using their typical tools of conspiracy theories, “but it’s made like motor oil!”, & “I’ll never accept that processed oils are better for you than butter!” If you can’t accept evidence contrary to your belief system then we really have nothing to talk about & the reality is that butter is also processed… unless any of you can show me where to find a butter tree or where I can hunt & kill butter?
Get my research review REPS:
biolayne.com/REPS
Get my new nutrition coaching app, Carbon Diet Coach: http://onelink.to/9h4d62
My research based supplements: http://www.outworknutrition.com
Get my books on how to lose fat: http://www.biolaynestore.com
Take my online course “The Science of Nutrition”: https://chfi.click/laynenorton_online
Get Custom Workouts by me for $12.99/month:
https://biolayne.com/workout-builder/
http://www.facebook.com/laynenorton
Tweets by BioLayne
http://www.instagram.com/biolayne
