The Ugly Truth About Vegetable Oils

The name sounds healthy, right? VEGETABLE oils. Don’t be fooled – these are dangerous to your health.

Vegetable oils (and margarine, made from these oils) are also known as PUFAs – Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids – and have been only recently introduced into the human diet.

There are two primary types of PUFAs: omega-3 and omega-6 and are “essential fats” because the body cannot make them and need to come from dietary sources.

Historically, humans consumed very small amounts of omega-6. Today it is found abundantly in the many packaged and processed foods like fast food, cakes, cookies, crackers, salad dressings, and hundreds of other products in your grocery store.

Due to Ancel Keyes’ phony Diet-Heart Hypothesis (see Part 1), the drive to get rid of saturated fats from the U.S. food supply intensified.

Healthy fats like butter and olive oil were looked upon as evil culprits and were more expensive. In replacing them with cheap vegetable oils they had to use a process called hydrogenation. This produces trans-fatty acids, AKA trans fats.

As Science Journalist Nina Teicholz reported, “…hydrogenated oils came to be used to make not only Crisco and margarine but virtually all manufactured food products. By the late 1980s, in fact, these hardened oils had become the backbone of the entire food industry, used in most cookies, crackers, chips, margarines, and shortenings, as well as fried, frozen and baked goods. They were in supermarkets and restaurants, bakeries, school cafeterias, sports stadia, amusement parks, and so on.”

Hydrogenated oils are great for frying foods such as doughnuts, potato chips, chicken nuggets, and french fries and they can be used many times over and over.

They did indeed become the backbone of the Big Food industry.

It took 90 years after these hydrogenated oils were introduced for these trans fats to be recognized by the FDA as “questionable” for human health.

Needless to say, excessive amounts of omega-6 from these trans fats promote inflammation and lead to heart disease, cancer, obesity, liver disease, etc.

In contrast, omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to have an anti-inflammatory effect in the body, which is highly beneficial for a wide range of chronic diseases that have inflammation at their root. Is it abundant in fish, shellfish, nuts, seeds, green leafy vegetables and pastured eggs.

Because one is anti-inflammatory and the other is inflammatory, they need to be kept in balance. Traditionally, humans consumed omega-6 and omega-3 at a ratio of 1:1 up to 3:1.

While omega-3 has fallen in our diet over the past century, we are swimming in omega-6. Instead of the ratio of 1:1 up to 3:1, in the Western diet the ratio is currently about 20:1 resulting in significant health problems.

This started in the early 20th century with the creation of cheap vegetable oils which were used to lubricate machinery. Someone got the great idea to feed them to people and the rest is history. Industry promoted them as healthy because, well, they were from vegetables, and extremely cheap to make.

But now we ingest 20 times or more of the omega-6 (from these vegetable oils) that are required for humans. That’s why eating the S.A.D. diet (Standard American Diet) which is loaded with omega-6 laden vegetable oils causes so much inflammation.

When inflammation becomes excessive, systemic and chronic, disease results.

Numerous randomized controlled trials (RCT) have proven a direct relationship to excessive PUFA (omega-6) consumption and heart disease, cancer, liver diseases and even obesity. For example;

• Soybean oil induced more weight gain and adiposity (body fat) than fructose.
• Soybean oil induced type 2 diabetes, glucose intolerance, and insulin resistance.
• Soybean oil caused fatty liver disease and liver-cell damage.
• Soybean oil stimulated genetic changes strongly linked to cancer cell proliferation.

Anyone interested in health, weight-loss or longevity must eliminate all refined vegetable oils from their diet. They include soy, canola, corn, sunflower, peanut, cottonseed, safflower, etc. Besides just not buying them for cooking, READ YOUR LABELS to make sure they are not in the ingredients of your foods.

They’re easy to replace with olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and other healthy oils which are readily available.

Test, Don't Guess

In this age of the internet, you can order many kinds of blood tests online without a doctor’s prescription. You just have to know what to look for.

The way it works is easy: you find one of the many direct-to-consumer online labs, look over their menu of blood tests, find the one you want and purchase it.

You then receive an email with a requisition form to print out. You take this form to a local lab in your area for the blood draw.

Your blood is then processed, and you get your results by email within a couple of days. Easy Peezy.

I like to use a company I’ve been familiar with called Life Extension. I am not connected to this company other than having had a paid membership for over 20 years and do not receive compensation for any referrals. They have a large menu of tests.

What I like about Life Extension is that if you need help understanding your results, you can call them and speak to one of their practitioners to clarify. That way you don’t have to rely only on Google searches, but I do recommend doing that as well. The more you know the better.

What I do is FIRST research anything I have questions about with an online search, and then call Life Extension. Then I take it all to my own doctor.

Yes, do take them to your doctor to get his/her feedback. Buying the blood tests online is much less expensive than paying a doctors’ office – you cut out the middleman.

Caution: your doctor may not know how to read the results of some of these tests if he is out of date with current medical science. Bring a copy of your results to leave with him so he can investigate on his own (hopefully).

A Note on HbA1c & Blood Glucose

A1c is an average of the percentage of glucose that has bound to your hemoglobin (red blood cells) over the period of 3 months prior to your blood draw.

Your A1C level can indicate if early mortality is in your future.

Make 5.0 or less your ideal target goal, but any lowering is beneficial.

Fasting blood glucose (not A1c) between 70 and 90 is normal.

A1C is a late-stage indicator of problems.  By the time this metric is high, you will have been essentially diabetic for many years.

The good news is that if your A1C is high, you can collapse it down to safe levels fairly quickly, simply by going low carb, eliminating sugar and omega-6 from all the unhealthy vegetable oils.  Of course adding in exercise and intermittent fasting will accelerate your gains.

Don’t forget – the best predictor of your longevity is your blood glucose, along with your insulin levels.

Here’s a simple method to reverse your Type 2 Diabetes and/or just to see where you are on fixing your high blood glucose scores.

1. Buy an inexpensive glucose meter at any pharmacy and test just before a meal and then 60 minutes after the start of that meal.
2. Your goal is to eventually have NO CHANGE in those 2 numbers.
3. If the second number went way up, look back on what you ate, identify the carbohydrate/sugar, eliminate it or cut back sharply on the portion size.
4. Keep it up and over time you will see both numbers descend into normal territory. BONUS: you will also lose weight if you need to.

Caution: if you are on any diabetes medications consult with your health care practitioner first, as we don’t want any low blood sugars.

Suggested Inexpensive Tests:

Besides knowing your A1C and your fasting glucose numbers, there’s a test you should get that will tell you more.

1. OGGT (Oral Glucose Tolerance Test)
This blood test will confirm if you are diabetic, pre-diabetic, borderline or normal. It tells exactly where you are on the diabetic spectrum. Click the link below and you can read about it as well as order it.

You can order it at Life Extension:
https://www.lifeextension.com/lab-testing/itemlc090365/glucose-tolerance-test-4-specimens-blood-test

This test will take 2 hours and 3 blood draws. The first is when you arrive in a fasted state. Immediately following that draw you drink a glucose solution of about 6 ounces. Usually tastes like 7UP. Then you sit in the waiting room for an hour and then they take another blood draw. Wait another hour and get the final draw.

IMPORTANT: Do not walk around during your waiting period as this can give you false readings. Bring a book or your laptop to stay occupied.

$75.00

2. CT Heart Scan or also known as Calcium CT Scan – a non-invasive
5-minute MRI. This gives you your CACS (Coronary Artery Calcium Scores: total score plus individual scores of the 4 main coronary arteries). You will visually SEE if you have accumulated cardiovascular plaque in your heart and if you are in danger.

All U.S. Presidents and astronauts must have this scan.

This is a test for which you DO need a doctor’s referral. They may not even know about this test. Tell him/her that you will not be using insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Insist on getting it done or find another doctor. You have a right to know.

Tell your doctor: “In November 2018 the joint American College of Cardiology (ACC)/American Heart Association (AHA) Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines issued new recommendations supporting the use of cardiac CT scans to produce CAC scores.” American Heart Association, Policy Guidance

Also from the same report: “While numerous studies have indicated that CAC tests are a reliable measure of patients’ relative risks for adverse cardiac (e.g., heart attacks) and neurological (e.g., strokes) events, most public and private payors heavily restrict coverage of the procedure and require a majority of patients, despite the procedure’s proven benefits and low risk profile, to pay for it on an elective, out-of-pocket basis.” Emphasis added.

This should appease any unaware doctor. Suggest they look it up.

Google it for where you can have it done in your area. Type in: ct heart scan near me. It’s usually a radiology center.

About $100.00 to $150.00

NOTE: Hospitals and cardiologists dislike this test for two reasons:

A. it competes with their expensive invasive procedures such as angiograms, angioplasties, stent installment, treadmill stress tests, etc.  They would lose a ton of revenues and

B.  they’ll say something like “even if you find out you have a high dangerous score, there’s nothing to do for it”.

Translation: we don’t have a drug or invasive procedure that we can make lots of $$$ on to fix it.

The ONLY thing that fixes/lowers a high score is lifestyle – low carb/low sugar diet & exercise.

Or, you may find a hospital/clinic that provides it as a loss leader. “Come get your $99.00 scan to see how your heart is doing”. If you get a non-optimum score they then up-sell you one of their expensive and invasive tests that “you must have right away so we can further verify, because you’re at risk”. Beware.

NOTE: If you’ve had Bypass Surgery (CABG) or Stents you are not a candidate for this scan.

Watch this short video by Dr. Eric Berg about this important scan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXZjOXLyA2g

3. CIMT Test – Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Test:
A short non-invasive ultrasound test. This will discover your arterial age and plaque buildup in the carotid arteries.

Plaque buildup (atherosclerosis) can occur in any of the arteries in the body. This is one reason the simple ultrasound of the carotid arteries is so valuable: it helps people understand their risk of developing atherosclerosis in other areas of the body as well.

This is another test for which you need a doctor’s referral. Tell him/her that you will not be using insurance and paying out-of-pocket. Insist on getting it done or find another doctor. You have a right to know. Google it for where you can have it done in your area. Most places that do ultrasound will do this as well.

But be SURE that wherever you go, they do the CIMT (Carotid Intima-Media Thickness) test and not another similar one. (i.e. Life Line Screening does NOT do this one – theirs is called Carotid Artery Screening – but it’s not the same).

Watch this video by Dr. Ford Brewer about the CIMT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOWF0KTNu2g

About $150.00 to $200.00

These last 2 tests, the CIMT and the CACS are making angiograms and treadmill stress tests obsolete.

Keep in mind: treadmill stress tests and the like do not detect any problem until a person has at least 50% arterial blockage. But almost 70% of all heart attacks occur with LESS THAN 50% BLOCKAGE.

Too many people get a stress test, get a “Normal” reading, and then die of a heart attack within weeks. That’s exactly what happened to N.B.C.’s Tim Russert, host of the popular TV news show “Meet the Press”.

Myeloperoxidase and Microalbumin/Creatinine Ratio
These are two blood tests you can also order at Life Extension without a doctor’s referral.

Myeloperoxidase levels will show if you have dangerous, inflamed liquid plaque in your arteries (as shown in the above video by Dr. Brewer). If this ruptures through the lining of the artery, it then spills into the lumen touching blood and creating a clot which then breaks off, goes “downstream’ and if it goes to your heart you have a heart attack – if it goes to your brain you have a stroke.

$120.00

You can order it here:
https://www.lifeextension.com/lab-testing/itemlc123006/myeloperoxidase

Microalbumin/Creatinine Ratio levels will show if you have cracks in the endothelial layer of your arteries which can more easily allow for the rupture of the lining by the inflamed liquid plaque explained in the previous paragraph on Myeloperoxidase. It will also show if you have deteriorating kidney function so you can avoid kidney disease.

$55.00

You can order it here:
https://www.lifeextension.com/lab-testing/itemlc140285/microalbumin-creatinine-ratio-random-urine

NMR LipoProfile Blood Test

This test will show if you currently have sdLDL (small dense LDL) particles at high levels or low levels and whether the particles are Large Buoyant (healthy) or Small Dense (harmful).

If you have a high number of LDL particles but they are the Pattern A type (Large and Bouyant), this is good.

If you have a high number of LDL particles but they are the Pattern B type (Small Dense) particles, this is dangerous.

You want the Pattern A, large and buoyant type LDL particles.

An analogy: think of the lining of your arteries as cobble-stone streets.  If you threw out some beach balls they would just bounce around freely. Whereas if you threw out small dense golf balls they would get caught in the cracks and crevices of the “cobble-stone street”.  And eventually create plaque buildup which leads to CVD and heart attacks, strokes, etc.

This is NOT the LDL or LDL-C that your typical doctor knows about and that shows on your typical blood tests.

This test will tell you the vital info about small dense LDL, the potentially harmful and dangerous type of LDL.

You can order it here:

http://www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/itemLC123810/NMR-LipoProfile-Blood-Test

$99.00

LP(a) Blood Test

Nicknamed the “mass murderer”, LP(a) or Lipoprotein(a) is hereditary and about 1/3 of the population has it.  Discover if you have it and if so, you need to regulate its levels (easily done with nutrition and taking niacin).  Having high levels of it cause a 300% increase in your chance of heart attack, stroke and dementia disorders.

You can order it here:

http://www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/itemLC120188/Lipoprotein-a-Lpa-Blood-Test

$39.00

Comprehensive Blood Tests

I also recommend you get these blood tests at least once a year. They cover many blood markers you want to keep an eye on.

Besides a CBC (Complete Blood Count) and Chemistry Panel, it also examines a Lipid Panel, Liver Panel, Kidney Panel, Hormones (Male or Female), Thyroid, Vitamin D Hydroxy, and other important markers like Fasting Glucose, Fasting Insulin, as well as A1C.

If you were to buy this test at a doctors’ office, it would cost at least triple.
$269.00 (every Spring they have it on sale for $199.00)

You can order the MALE Panel here:
http://www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/itemLC322582/Male-Panel-Blood-Test

You can order the Female Panel here:
http://www.lifeextension.com/Vitamins-Supplements/itemLC322535/Female-Panel-Blood-Test

4. HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance)

Here is an important one you get for FREE.

By getting your Fasting Glucose number and your Fasting Insulin number from your Male or Female Panel above, you just plug those two numbers into this free online tool:

https://www.thebloodcode.com/calculators/

This will measure your Insulin Resistance.

Healthy Range: 1.0 (0.5–1.4)
Less than 1.0 means you are insulin-sensitive which is optimal.
Above 1.9 indicates early insulin resistance.
Above 2.9 indicates significant insulin resistance.

You can also purchase the Blood Glucose and Insulin tests separately from any online direct-to-consumer lab pretty cheap. Life Extension sells them for $19 and $29 bucks respectively.

Watch this short video about the HOMA-IR test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr7RkcHGxtk

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Great for you making it this far. Want to know the true story behind wheat and grains that has been hidden from you? Please move forward to Part 6 (LINK BELOW).

Click down below for Part 6

Please let me know if this was helpful to you by sending me a message through our CONTACT page.

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Recommended Books

Medical Videos
Watch all videos in full-screen for better experience.

A Few Videos from Cardiologist Dr. William Davis

A Few Videos from Ivor Cummins

David Diamond video

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Click here for Part 6