Erin O'Hara: naturopath and wellness expert on whether seed oils are bad for you

Seed oils like canola and sunflower oil have attracted controversial claims about harmful effects - but should we be worried?

Some argue they fuel chronic inflammation and disease, while others have pointed out that they lower cholesterol and reduce heart disease risk.

Naturopath and wellness research Erin O'Hara weighed in - and revealed which oils are better for you. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Ab juling me now to talk wellness is Erin O'Hara.
Good morning. We are going to talk about seed oils.
And there's a lot of confusion around oils and the
different kind of oils and what's good for us and
what's bad for us. So where do the seed oils sit?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, so seed oil is a real controversial one. There's
research that shows that seed oils are good for us
and really good for heart healthy and actually show evidence
to lower cholesterol and reduce heart disease risk. And then
there's the other flip side of fueling chronic inflammation and
chronic diseases. So you've got these two sides of different

(00:49):
research from different people, and it's really hard to know
what we should be doing if you don't know what
seed oils are. Seed oils are also also referred to
as vegetable oils. So the common ones are your canola,
so we're being corn, sunflower, grape seed oil, peanut or
rice brand oil. So these are all oils that are

(01:10):
commercially processed, and these seed oils are chemically processed and
they're done through a process of cleaning, pressing, bleaching, deodorizing, refining,
and sometimes even they can add a chemical solvent known
as hexane for the oil extraction, and that's where that
toxicity really comes in, as hexane is actually a chemical

(01:32):
that comes from crude oil. So that's where we're like,
should be really be adding things that are processed to
this sort of level, And that's where there's that risk
factor of seed oils. Are they causing chronic disease, cancer
and inflammation, And that's where it really comes down to
the components of what seed oil really is. And the
balance of amiga six is to a mega threes, okay,

(01:55):
and that's really where all sort of fats have that balance.
And the problem with your seed oils is that they
are mainly just a mega six and amiga six is
actually very abundant in modern society in our diet because
your a mega sixes are and actually all ultra processed foods,
so we're getting a lot of them in our diet.

(02:17):
And the problem is not just a mega six is
bad for us, because it's not. It's actually something that
we essentially need for health, like the amega threes. It's
more to do with the balance that we're getting within
our diet. So if we're having way too much a
Mega six, which would happen if you're adding and using
a lot of seed oils on top of what you're
already doing in your diet, then you have a very

(02:37):
low proportion of amega three and that's what really drives
up inflammation. And if we look at the common everyday
person and their common diet, a lot of people are
getting the balance of a mega six to a mega
three of not two to one or one to one,
but more like twenty to one, which means that that's
what's really causing a lot of problems.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Are are they seed oils which are better than others?

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Not really like it's more about looking at, okay, what
should we do to cut back on them? And that's
we're looking at alternative oil, so things like extra virgin
olive oil if you're using it for low heat cooking
or if you're using for high heat cooking, things like
avocado oil, and choosing cold press where possible. Also, the
other way we can balance this amiga six to omega

(03:23):
three is upping your amiga three rich foods. So that's
things like fatty fish like salmon, sardines, seeds like chair seeds,
flax seeds, walnuts, and also fortified foods that have added
omega three, so we get more omega three into the
diet because that will create that balance. And then also
just keeping that mix of good fat, so making sure

(03:45):
you're getting more of those cold press oils in there,
and then trying to avoid where possible of cutting back
the seed oils where you can when you don't need
to be having them, and especially things like deep frying.
We don't really know.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
At one point there, and I was replacing it with
the grape seed oil, which was which was quite nice
to gook with.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
For more from the Sunday session with Franch Skrud can
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