Seed Oils Are Bad For Immune System

January 28, 2022

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Seed oils are the worst offender on your immune system, more so than refined sugar. Seed oils are industrially processed, often referred to as “vegetable oils.” Linoleic acid, the primary fatty acid (PFA) found in polyunsaturated fatty acids, is the root cause of harmful biochemical reactions in the body. The dramatic rise in seed oil ingestion is the key cause for heart disease, cancer, age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, obesity, and dementia. This increase in consumption has occurred over recent decades. Linoleic acid is found in most processed foods, including sauces and salad dressings. Similarly, unsaturated fat intake is associated with increased mortality with Covid-19, while saturated fat ingestion lowers your risk of death.

What you eat plays an important role on how efficient your immune system functions. You can actively maintain your body’s ability to protect against acute and chronic conditions, simply by what you eat. Some foods, however, can be detrimental to your health. What is the worst ingredient for your body’s immune system? Sugar would be a nice guess, but seed oils are much worse.

As mentioned above, linoleic acid, which is an 18-carbon omega-6 fatty acid, is the main culprit in harmful biochemical reactions in the body. Linoleic acid is the primary fat found in PFAs and accounts for 80% of the fatty acids found in vegetable oils. Omega-6 fats must be balanced with omega-3 fats in order not to harmful, but this is not the case for most Americans.

An immunologist with CNBC recently claimed sugar as “the worst food ingredient for your immune system.” Consuming too much sugar, can lead to insulin resistance and obesity, which increases inflammation in your body. It has been known since the 1970s that sugar weakens the immune system. Most health experts simply do not understand that seed oils are much worse than sugar. These fats become ingrained in your cell membranes and stay there for about seven years, creating havoc on your health. Most of the omega-6 consumed in your diet, including seed oils, are damaged and oxidized through processing. Even if they are unheated and natural when consumed in small amounts, your body degrades them into free radicals, which can damage every tissue in your body. When oxidized, linoleic acids rapidly degenerate into oxidized linoleic acid metabolites (OXLAMs). According to Chris Knobbe, founders and president of the Cure AMD Foundation, OXLAMs create a perfect storm, “as they are cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, atherogenic, and thrombogenic.” Their atherosclerosis and thrombogenic actions are most concerning because they can produce strokes and clots.

The step before oxidized metabolite formation is lipid peroxidation. Because there are so many reactive oxidative forms it leads to the development of insulin resistance at the cellular level. OXLAMS are also toxic to the liver and are associated with inflammation, fibrosis, and fatty liver disease in humans. Dr. Paul Saladino, a physician journalist, explained in a podcast that linoleic acid “breaks the sensitivity for insulin at the level of your fat cells,” essentially making them more insulin sensitive. Since fat cells control insulin sensitivity for the rest of your body by releasing free fatty acids, you end up with insulin resistance. Tucker Goodrich, a medical researcher, explained that “animals develop cancer once the linoleic acid in their diet reaches 4% to 10% of their energy intake.” Yet, most Americans get approximately 8% of their calories from seed oils. Goodrich said, in addition: “We’ve got this huge disconnect between what the lab science tells us and what we should be doing and what our dietary guidelines tell us what we should be doing. The scientists are saying, ‘Oh look it’s poison. It causes all the chronic diseases,’ and the government’s saying, ‘Eat lots of it.’ That is not a good thing.”

As noted above, data indicates that Covid-19 death rates are heavily influenced by the amount of unsaturated fats you eat. Unsaturated fats cause injury and organ failure resembling Covid-19. More specifically, unsaturated fatty acids are known to provoke lipotoxic acute pancreatitis, and the sepsis and multi-system organ failure seen in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. Linoleic acid adds to the inflammatory domino effect that eventually kills some people with Covid-19. Goodrich explained: “SARS is a severe acute respiratory syndrome. SARS kills you by giving you acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).” ARDS can be caused by other things, besides COVID-19 infection. It is seen with influenza, inhalation of toxic acids into your lungs, and the most overlooked by corrupt governments, inducing through ingestion of seed oils. Very sick patients who cannot eat are fed intravenously by total parenteral nutrition (TPN). TPN contains a product called Intralipid, which is made out of soybean oil and sugar. This is unbelievable and quite disturbing. Doctors did an experiment after they noticed many of their patients who came to the ICU, were given TPN and subsequently developed ARDS. When the physicians looked at what they were feeding them, they discovered it was the soybean oil formula that increased the patient’s rate of getting ARDS.

Another reason why linoleic acid is detrimental is because it is found in virtually every processed food, including restaurant foods, sauces, and salad dressings. Many processed foods high in sugar also contain seed oils. Even if you cut out processed foods, skip sauces and salad dressings when you eat out, you still may be consuming too much vegetable oil because it is hidden in “healthy” foods like chicken or pork. These animals are fed grains that are high in linoleic acid, which makes the meat a major source as well.

Olive oil is another health food that has hidden linoleic acid in it. There are, however, some benefits. The linoleic acid content of olive oil can vary significantly. As Goodrich explained: “The percentage that I’ve seen quoted in literature range from 2%, which is awesome, to 22%, which is not good.” Olive oil has some positive benefits. It contains beneficial oleic acid, which is protective again LDL (bad cholesterol) oxidation and cardiolipin oxidation. Cardiolipin is a fat located in the mitochondria (energy production in cells). Cardiolipin controls autophagy, which is the body’s way of cleaning out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells. By altering the composition of cardiolipin in the mitochondria, to one that is greater in omega-6 fats, makes it far more susceptible to oxidative damage. Goodrich explains research showing that when linoleic acid in cardiolipin is replaced with oleic acid, the molecules become highly resistant to oxidative damage. Sometimes, however, olive oil is cut with cheap seed oils, which increases the linoleic acid content.

Many health professionals now understand that the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio should be about 1-to-1, or possibly 4-to-1, but just increasing omega-3 intake will not counteract the damage done by excessive linoleic acid intake. You really need to limit the amount of omega-6 to prevent damage from occurring. Linoleic acid should be limited to 2 to 3 grams per day, which is close to what our ancestors consumed in the past before the advent of chronic health conditions became widespread. These health conditions include diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and obesity. Remember, linoleic acid is considered an essential fat, so you don’t want to limit it completely. Only when it is consumed in large amounts does linoleic acid act as a metabolic poison. What amount is excessive? Any amount over 10 grams is likely to cause problems, although the exact amount is unknown. In 1909, Americans ate 2 grams a day of seed oils. According to Knobbe, but by 2010 this had increased to 80 grams a day. If you are not sure what you are eating, enter your food intake into a Cronometer, which is a free online nutrition tracker. It will provide you with your total linoleic acid intake. The key to accurate entry is to carefully weigh your food with a digital kitchen scale. Cronometer will tell you how much omega-6 fatty acids you are getting from your food down to the 10th of a gram. You can assume 90% of that is linoleic acid. Therefore, you will want to keep your linoleic acid as low as possible.

This means eliminating all of the following oils:

• Soy
• Safflower
• Corn
• Sunflower
• Canola
• Peanut
• Cottonseed

Other high linoleic acid foods include chips, fried in vegetable oil, commercial salad dressings and sauces, all processed foods, and any fried fast food, such as french fries.

CONCLUSION

These seed oils are very well hidden in many foods, especially snacks. Even so called “healthy” snacks, such as organic blue or yellow corn chips, organic sweet potato chips, and organic pretzels, all contain organic safflower, sunflower, and/or canola oils. An alternative snack food, which can be purchased at some supermarkets or health food stores, is potato chips fried in avocado oil or organic olive oil. Another critical point to remember is always read labels.

I am baffled sometimes by the excessive amount of these cheap, refined seed oils in many snack foods. Some foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids are mackerel, salmon, cod, herring, sardines, anchovies, flax seeds, chia seeds, and walnuts. Remember you want to try to keep the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 around 1-to-1. Finally, always buy organic, especially when it comes to olive oil because sometimes it is cut with seed oils that are high in linoleic acid. May God bless all and keep well.

By Ed J.