The Dark Side History of Seed Oils: Health Risks and Corporate Profiteering

Seed oils—such as canola, soybean, corn, and cottonseed oil—are staples in processed foods, restaurant kitchens, and home pantries. Marketed as healthy and versatile, these oils have a troubling history rooted in industrial applications and profit-driven motives. This blog delves into the origins of seed oils, their industrial uses, their rebranding as food, the highly processed methods used to produce them, and, most critically, why their consumption may harm health and how corporations profit at the expense of consumer well-being.

The Origins of Seed Oils

The modern seed oil industry emerged in the 19th century as a byproduct of industrial agriculture. Oils from cottonseed, rapeseed, and flaxseed were initially extracted from crops grown for other purposes, making them cheap and abundant.

• Cottonseed Oil: A byproduct of the cotton industry, cottonseed oil was once considered waste until its oil was extracted for industrial use in the mid-1800s.

• Rapeseed Oil: In Europe, rapeseed oil was derived from the rapeseed plant, primarily for non-food applications due to its high erucic acid content, which was toxic in large amounts.

• Flaxseed Oil: Known as linseed oil, flaxseed oil was used in paints and varnishes, valued for its drying properties.

These oils were industrial commodities, not food, until corporations saw an opportunity to repurpose them for profit, disregarding their suitability for human consumption.

Industrial Use of Seed Oils

Before entering the food chain, seed oils were workhorses of the Industrial Revolution, valued for their low cost and chemical properties.

• Lubricants and Engine Oils: Rapeseed and cottonseed oils lubricated machinery, including steam engines and factory gears, due to their viscosity and heat stability.

• Soap and Candle Manufacturing: Cottonseed oil was a key ingredient in affordable soaps, while seed oils were used in candles as a cheaper alternative to tallow.

• Paints and Varnishes: Flaxseed (linseed) oil was essential for oil-based paints, forming a durable film when dried.

• Other Uses: Seed oils contributed to linoleum, explosives, and early plastics, showcasing their industrial versatility.

The focus was on utility and cost, not safety for consumption. Yet, these same oils would later be rebranded as edible, driven by corporate greed rather than nutritional science.

Engine Oil Rebranding as Food Oil

The shift from industrial to culinary use was a calculated move by companies prioritizing profit over health, with little regard for the consequences.

• Cottonseed Oil and Procter & Gamble: In the late 19th century, Procter & Gamble transformed cottonseed oil, a byproduct of cotton production, into a food product. By refining and hydrogenating it, they created Crisco in 1911, a solid fat marketed as a "healthy" alternative to lard. Crisco’s success was built on aggressive advertising, not evidence of safety, establishing a precedent for prioritizing marketability over health.

• Rapeseed to Canola: Rapeseed oil, once used as a machinery lubricant, contained high levels of erucic acid, linked to heart damage in animal studies. In the 1970s, Canadian scientists bred a low-erucic-acid variety, rebranded as "canola" (Canadian oil, low acid). Companies like Monsanto and Cargill promoted canola as heart-healthy, leveraging selective science to obscure its industrial roots and processed nature.

• Corporate Marketing: The rebranding was bolstered by flawed nutritional guidelines demonizing saturated fats and praising polyunsaturated fats. Companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Bunge capitalized on this narrative, flooding markets with cheap seed oils while downplaying their health risks.

These corporations reaped massive profits by turning industrial byproducts into food, often ignoring evidence of harm and using marketing to shape public perception.

The Highly Processed Creation of Seed Oils

Seed oils undergo extreme processing to become edible, stripping them of nutrients and introducing harmful compounds. This process prioritizes shelf life and cost over health.

1. Extraction:

   • Seeds are crushed using high heat or chemical solvents like hexane, a neurotoxic petroleum derivative. Trace residues of hexane remain in the oil, raising safety concerns.

   • High temperatures oxidize the oil, creating harmful free radicals before it even reaches the refining stage.

2. Refining:

   • Crude oil is degummed, neutralized, and bleached to remove impurities, odors, and flavors. Bleaching uses harsh chemicals, further degrading the oil’s quality.

   • This process removes any natural antioxidants or nutrients, leaving a nutritionally void product.

3. Deodorizing:

   • Oils are heated to 500°F (260°C) to eliminate off-flavors, but this creates trans fats and other toxic byproducts, even in non-hydrogenated oils.

   • The process destroys beneficial compounds like omega-3s, leaving an imbalance of omega-6 fatty acids.

4. Hydrogenation:

   • For products like margarine or shortening, oils are partially hydrogenated, creating trans fats linked to heart disease and inflammation. Though largely phased out, trans fats were a staple of seed oil products for decades.

5. Additives:

   • Synthetic preservatives like TBHQ or BHA are added to prevent rancidity. These chemicals are linked to potential health risks, including cancer in animal studies.

The result is a highly refined product that bears little resemblance to its natural source, designed for profit and convenience rather than nutrition.

Why Seed Oils Are Bad for Consumption

The health risks of seed oils stem from their processing, composition, and overuse in modern diets. Despite corporate claims, mounting evidence suggests they harm rather than help.

• Omega-6 Imbalance: Seed oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid. Modern diets, laden with seed oils, create an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio as high as 20:1, far from the ideal 1:1 or 4:1. This imbalance promotes chronic inflammation, linked to heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders.

• Oxidative Damage: The high heat and chemical processing create oxidized compounds and free radicals, which damage cells and contribute to aging, cancer, and cardiovascular issues when consumed regularly.

• Trans Fats and Toxins: Even non-hydrogenated seed oils contain trace trans fats from deodorizing, and chemical residues like hexane pose unknown long-term risks.

• Nutritional Deficiency: The refining process strips seed oils of vitamins, antioxidants, and beneficial fats, offering no nutritional value compared to less processed oils like olive or avocado oil.

• Overconsumption: Seed oils dominate processed foods, fast food, and restaurant cooking due to their low cost. This ubiquity exacerbates their health impacts, as most people consume far more than is safe.

Studies, such as those published in The British Medical Journal (2016), have linked high omega-6 intake from seed oils to increased mortality from heart disease, challenging decades of industry-backed claims about their benefits.

Corporations Profiting Without Regard for Health

The seed oil industry is dominated by a handful of agribusiness giants that prioritize profit over consumer health, often at the expense of scientific integrity.

• Procter & Gamble: By creating Crisco, P&G set the stage for seed oils in food, using marketing to obscure cottonseed oil’s industrial origins. Their focus was market dominance, not consumer well-being.

• Cargill and ADM: These companies control vast portions of the soybean, canola, and corn oil markets. They lobby for policies favoring seed oil crops and fund studies that downplay health risks, ensuring their products remain cheap and ubiquitous.

• Monsanto (now Bayer): Monsanto’s development of genetically modified canola and soybean crops increased seed oil yields, lowering costs and boosting profits. Their influence over agricultural policy prioritizes monoculture farming, harming the environment and public health.

• Bunge and Others: Bunge, a global oilseed processor, supplies seed oils to fast-food chains and packaged food manufacturers, capitalizing on demand for cheap ingredients despite evidence of harm.

These corporations have historically suppressed or ignored research questioning seed oils’ safety, funding biased studies or lobbying against regulations that could limit their use. Their business model relies on low-cost production and widespread adoption, regardless of the consequences for consumers.

Conclusion

Seed oils, born from industrial byproducts and rebranded as food, are a triumph of corporate profiteering over public health. Their heavy processing creates a product high in omega-6s, oxidized compounds, and chemical residues, contributing to inflammation, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. Companies like Procter & Gamble, Cargill, ADM, and Monsanto (Bayer) have built empires on these oils, using marketing and lobbying to obscure their risks while flooding the food supply with a harmful ingredient.

Consumers can fight back by choosing less processed alternatives like olive oil, coconut oil, or butter and demanding transparency from food producers. The history of seed oils is a cautionary tale of how profit-driven industries can shape our diets, often at the cost of our health. By understanding their origins and risks, we can make informed choices and push for a food system that prioritizes well-being over wealth.