French fries are a beloved indulgence, but the toxic seed oils used to fry them…

Omega-6 Linoleic Acid Is Not What Makes Seed Oils Bad
Table of Contents
- Introduction: Clearing Up Confusion About Omega-6 Linoleic Acid in Seed Oils
- The Origins of the Omega-6 Misunderstanding
- The Real Problem: Harsh Extraction and Refining Make Seed Oils Toxic (Damaging Their Fragile Fats, Including Omega-6 Linoleic Acid)
- What Happens When We Eat LOPs? Inflammation Happens!
- Why Sesame Seed Oil Is Okay
- Why Do People Blame Omega-6?
- Omega-3 in Fish Oil is Worse than Omega-6!
- What Can You Do?
- Why does it matter that you know this?
- Conclusion: Share the Truth (TLDR)
Introduction: Clearing Up Confusion About Omega-6 Linoleic Acid in Seed Oils
Seed oil causes inflammation, but not for the reasons most people talk about. This matters because we need to identify the real health enemy. If we don’t get that right, everything else falls apart.
You might have heard that seed oils, like soybean or corn oil, are inflammatory because of a fat called omega-6. You may also have heard that seed oils’ omega-6 causes health problems like diabetes or heart trouble.
That’s a myth we need to bust! Omega-6 isn’t the real villain.
This article is continued below...(scroll down)
The real problem is Oxidation
The real villain is a chemical process called oxidation. Seed oils cause damage to our bodies because they promote out-of-control oxidation reactions in our body’s cells. Outside our body, oxidation reactions occur around us all the time. Fire is one common oxidation reaction, its a reaction between carbon in wood and oxygen in the air. Rusting is another, it’s oxidation reaction between iron and the oxygen in water. Sliced apples browning reveal different types of oxidation occurring in the injured apple cells.
When our diet contains unhealthy seed oils, oxidation reactions in our cells can get out of control. This is how seed oils cause inflammation. Not omega-6.
The Origins of the Omega-6 Misunderstanding
The main Omega-6 fat in seed oil is called linoleic acid (pronounced Lin-o-lay-ic). That’s an important word to know, and I’m going to be using it a lot.
The omega-6 misunderstanding comes from the fact that the body can convert linoleic acid into a bigger molecule, called arachidonic acid. That bigger molecule plays a role in the inflammatory response. So people assume that having more linoleic acid in your body will automatically translate to having more of the arachidonic acid, too. But that’s not how it works.
To understand why not, consider this. You might have a pound of salt in your kitchen right now, but that doesn’t mean you’ll sprinkle extra salt on all your food. Your body is like a smart chef who uses linoleic acid to make just the right amount of arachidonic acid “salt” for your cells, slowing down production when enough is present. So no matter how much linoleic acid you eat, your body still uses the same amount of “salt” to make your cells.
Besides, many foods are full of linoleic acid, including the soybeans and sunflower seeds used to make seed oils. But these foods don’t cause inflammation when we eat them.
The real problem with seed oils has to do with the oil production methods.
The Real Problem: Harsh Extraction and Refining Make Seed Oils Toxic (Damaging Their Fragile Fats, Including Omega-6 Linoleic Acid)
The “hateful eight” oils are made in big factories using harsh processes. The result is nothing like the nutritious seeds nature made. It’s like turning fresh fruit into dried-up, stale powder. But it’s worse—it destroys nutrients and creates toxins.
This process starts with extraction—taking the oil out of seeds—and ends with refining, which tries to clean it. Both steps make the oil harmful.
Mechanical Extraction:
Factories heat and crush seeds to remove the oil. This heat breaks fragile fats, like the omega-6 linoleic acid, into tiny bits of poison called lipid oxidation products, or LOPs. LOPs are toxic.
LOPs are like sparks that start a fire in your body. They form because of heat and pressure, not because omega-6 linoleic acid is bad.
These tiny, toxic LOPs are the real bad guys. They multiply, increasing in numbers on their own.
Hexane Extraction: Dissolving Every Last Drop
Factories use a chemical called hexane to squeeze out every last drop of oil. Most or all hexane is removed later. Some people think hexane is the main toxin, but that’s another myth! The real problem is the LOPs.
Refining and Cleaning the Oil
Factories refine the oil to remove some LOPs, metals, waxes, and broken fats that make it spoil faster. Refining gets rid of bad-tasting toxins but leaves tasteless, odorless ones behind. It also removes up to 90 percent of the important nutrients, like phospholipids, lecithin, choline, and antioxidants.
More Toxins Form After Leaving the Factory
Fragile fats like omega-6 must be protected from oxygen. Nature puts abundant antioxidants in the seeds, but processing removes them. Without protection, oxygen attacks the fragile fats, and more LOPs form.
What Happens When We Eat LOPs? Inflammation Happens!
When you eat “hateful eight” oils, LOPs get into your gut and bloodstream. They cause a problem called oxidative stress, which can burn up the antioxidants your cells need to generate energy and survive. This can make your tummy hurt, which is why many people feel better after avoiding these oils.
LOPs also attack your body’s cells, triggering inflammation—a kind of swelling that makes you sick. This isn’t caused by linoleic acid but by LOPs spreading damage. LOPs mix with oxygen and attack other fats in your cells, including omega-6 and omega-3 (another good fat). This makes more LOPs, like a chain reaction.
So it’s not the linoleic acid triggering inflammation. It’s the LOPs. This is what most people who are talking about why seed oils are bad are mixed up about.
Why Sesame Seed Oil Is Okay
Sesame seed oil has lots of linoleic acid, but it’s safe because it’s usually virgin oil, meaning unrefined except for removing seed husks. It’s made gently, like squeezing fresh orange juice. This avoids creating LOPs. Sesame oil also has antioxidants that protect linoleic acid from damage. In fact, sesame oil resists LOP formation almost as well as olive oil. This is real-world evidence that linoleic acid isn’t the problem—harsh processing is.
Why Do People Blame Omega-6?
Years ago, scientists suspected that too much omega-6 compared to omega-3 could cause problems. Many experts started recommending omega-3 fish oils based on this theory. Decades later, human clinical trials have failed to show fish oils help with most of the problems tested for, including weight loss, asthma, and heart disease. (They do help with rheumatoid arthritis and dry eye.)
In spite of scant evidence, most people talking about seed oils focus on omega-6. They don’t look at the bigger picture or the details of how factory extraction and refining make oils toxic. It’s like blaming a car for crashing when the road was bad. Refining is the broken road, not omega-6.
Omega-3 in Fish Oil is Worse than Omega-6!
There’s a reason fish oils do not do very much. Fish oil is even more fragile than linoleic acid. So, some fish oil brands, those refined with harsher methods, contain unacceptable levels of toxic LOPs. If seed oils happened to be higher in omega-3 than omega-6, they would be even more toxic than they already are!
What Can You Do?
You can stay healthy by avoiding the “hateful eight.” Try these easy steps:
- Read Labels: Check food packages. Skip anything with soybean, corn, canola, cottonseed, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, or rice bran oil.
- Pick Good Oils: Use olive oil, coconut oil, or butter for cooking. These are safer.
- Eat Real Food: Choose fruits, veggies, nuts, or meats instead of snacks with seed oils.
- Try Sesame Oil: Use unrefined sesame oil for salads or cooking. It’s a safe choice.
Why does it matter that you know this?
Knowing linoleic acid is innocent helps you in two big ways:
Benefit One: You can ignore “health experts” who say omega-6 is safe based on flawed studies. These studies often miss the truth about LOPs. I explain one flaw in this article, and more will come in future pieces!
Benefit Two: You can enjoy a varied diet. People who think linoleic acid is bad avoid healthy foods like almonds, chicken, or olive oil. That limits your choices. Knowing the truth lets you eat these foods without worry.
The idea that omega-6 linoleic acid is bad is a myth. Harsh extraction and refining of the “hateful eight” oils create toxic LOPs that cause inflammation and health problems, not linoleic acid. Refining also removes nutrients like lecithin and antioxidants. Choose unrefined oils like sesame, flax, hemp, or peanut instead. By picking better oils and real foods, you keep your body strong. Tell your friends and family the truth about seed oils. Let’s make healthier choices together!
FURTHER READING
If you’ve heard that linoleic acid can build up in our fat tissue, that’s true! That’s a separate issue, and I discuss this in my book, Dark Calories.
I also wrote a paper about how the combined effects of toxic LOPs and too much linoleic acid in our body fat compound to promote obesity, diabetes, and cancer. You can read about it here.
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