Vegetable oil is found in many processed foods that you may be eating on a regular basis. This oil is touted as healthy but contributes to heart disease, cancer, and lots of other health complications you’ll want to avoid.
Vegetable oil also known as soybean oil poses a threat to your health. Let me break down each form of soybean oil for you so you can understand why it’s so unhealthy for you and how it causes inflammation.
Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
Soybean oil is hydrogenated to prolong the shelf life of the oil. If it wasn’t hydrogenated it would be too unstable for food manufacturing. Hydrogenation also raises the melting point of the oil so it’s much more stable in higher heats when companies process food.
Researchers have mountains of research proving that when you create hydrogenated oils, also known as trans fats, the chemical alteration that occurs to the oil can cause horrific health effects.
Note: partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fats and fully hydrogenated oils do not.
Partially hydrogenated trans fats are man made chemicals that can cause major problems. Studies have linked trans fats to cancer, obesity, diabetes, decreased immune function, and many other problems.
A food labeling trick that is commonly used by food manufacturers, which is allowed by the FDA is to list 0g of trans fats if 1 serving size contains less than a 1/2g of trans fats in a single serving. If a serving size is low, such as 3 crackers or 1 cookie chances are it contains trans fats.
Regular Soybean Oil
If the oil is not organic and the label is claiming the soybean oil is not hydrogenated then the next problem with the oil is that it’s most likely genetically modified. Over 75% of soybeans grown in the United States are genetically modified.
To make matters worse, the fats contained in soybeans are omega-6 and there is no shortage of omega-6 fatty acids in the western diet. It’s recommended that you consume omega-3 fatty acids to close the large gap from omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids that many Americans have.
High unhealthy amounts of omega-6 fatty acids are also found in meats from grain fed animals. Stick to grass fed animals to up your intake of omega-3 fatty acids.
The large consumption of omega-6 fatty acids has been linked to chronic inflammation.
Organic Soybean Oil
If you’ve come across an organic soybean oil that has NOT been genetically modified there are still risk factors for consuming soy.
First, there are substances called Goitrogens found in unfermented soy whether it’s organic or not. These substances block the synthesis of thyroid hormones and interfere with iodine metabolism, which interferes with thyroid function.
Second, Isoflavones are present in soy. Isoflavones are a type of phytoestrogen that resemble estrogen produced by humans. There is evidence from research that soy can cause infertility, disturb endocrine function, and increase the risk of breast cancer in women.
Third, Hemagglutinin is another problem associated with soy. This substance in soy causes your red blood cells to clump together, which results in the inability to distribute oxygen to your tissues.
Eliminating The Toxic Effects of Soybean Oil
Check food labels to see if the ingredients contain soybean oil. Most processed snacks, condiments, mayonnaise, and salad dressings are the biggest offenders that contain soybean oil.
Make your own mayonnaise and salad dressings, and choose real butter instead of using margarine. Use butter and coconut oil for high heat cooking and consume olive oil in its raw form.
Do you use soybean or vegetable oils? What are your thoughts now that you know more about this oil? What foods have you been eating that contain soybean oil? ')}
