Are Seed Oils Bad for You? A Gastroenterologist Weighs In

Why You Should Read This Now

I keep getting asked the same question, worded differently every time: are seed oils bad for me? Before you toss the canola oil, here are the claims worth double-checking.

1. What is seed oil?

• ⚡ Seed oils are pressed from seeds, not fruit: canola, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, cottonseed
• ⚡ Olive and avocado oil come from fruit, so they're not in this category
• ⚡ Sesame oil is a seed oil too, but it's typically used in small amounts as a flavoring rather than the high-volume cooking fat driving most of this concern

These distinctions matter. Lumping every oil into one category is how good ones get tossed out along with the bad.

2. The inflammation question is more complicated than the headlines.

The research on seed oils and inflammation is mixed. What I've noticed clinically is that the foods highest in seed oils are also often highly processed, fried, or eaten in place of fiber. That combination, not the oil in isolation, is what tends to show up in my patients' guts as bloating and irregularity.

3. Here's what's in my own kitchen.

• ⚡ Extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and unrefined coconut oil
• ⚡ With olive and avocado oil, I look for single-country sourcing rather than a blend
• ⚡ Blended oils are more prone to dilution and quality inconsistency, which matters more to me than any single health claim

4. About that beef tallow trend.

Beef tallow is having its moment as the supposed fix-all, and it's not automatically safer. Tallow is high in saturated fat, which carries its own well-established cardiovascular considerations. This isn't a tallow-versus-seed-oil contest. It's about cooking with less processed fat overall, and not pinning the blame on any single ingredient.

“Patients want a villain, and seed oil is an easy one to pick. What’s important is to look at the whole plate. A fried, low-fiber meal cooked in olive oil isn't better than a vegetable-forward one cooked in canola.”— Dr. Tina Storage, MD

“Seed oils get blamed for a lot. In twenty years of looking at GI tracts, I've never once been able to tell what oil someone cooks with. I can tell you a lot about their fiber intake though.”— Dr. James H. Tabibian, MD, PhD

Talk soon,
Dr. Storage