Should seed oils be avoided? This is what the experts say

Some politicians and health influencers on social media and popular podcasts have been warning about the dangers of consuming “the hateful eight”: canola, corn, cottonseed, grape, rice bran, safflower, soybean and sunflower oils.

A campaign against seed oils that even Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has warned about. President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of Health and Human Services argued on social media site X that Americans are being “inadvertently poisoned” by seed oils. (Kennedy Jr. did not respond to a request for comment.)

The topic has even been the subject of parody online: In a recent TikTok post, a young man pretends to sauté a frying pan that appears to be filled with mini bottles of Fireball Cinnamon whiskey, while intones: “The most important thing about this meal is to avoid the oils.” of seeds”.

Now at least some in the food industry are making changes. Sweetgreen’s CEO announced this month the introduction of the restaurant’s “first seed oil-free menu.” A Sweetgreen spokesperson told NBC News in a statement: “We are proud to connect people with real food and provide our customers with options we can be proud of.”

But nutrition experts say concerns surrounding seed oils are, in essence, a reheated and repackaged wellness fad.

“This has been going back and forth for 20 years,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University. And the focus on seed oils, Mozaffarian and other experts argue, misses the bigger picture when it comes to improving the health of Americans.

What are the concerns about seed oils and where do they come from?

When critics talk about seed oils, “I really think what they’re looking for is omega-6, omega-3,” said Christopher Gardner, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. (Gardner also served on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.)

The “omega-6, omega-3” idea you are referring to is an idea that dates back to at least the 2000s, when rumors were circulating in nutrition circles about the supposed dangers of omega-6 fatty acids, that they could increase inflammation and therefore lead to chronic diseases such as heart disease or diabetes, or so it was thought. Over time, those expressing these claims became strong enough to prompt the American Heart Association to issue a scientific advisory laying out the evidence for the health benefits of omega-6s, particularly as they relate to cardiovascular diseases.

Given that context, Gardner said, it’s easier to begin to understand claims about the dangers of seed oils, which are sometimes They may seem like they came out of nowhere..

Most claims about the dangers of seed oils tend to focus, at least in part, on inflammation; more specifically, in that seed oils contain large amounts of omega-6 relative to omega-3. Current seed oil skeptics say this ratio is pro-inflammatory and can lead to chronic diseases.

Omega-6s are fatty acids, just like omega-3s. Most fats, Gardner explained, are converted to energy in the body. “A very small amount of our fats, and these are omega-6s and omega-3s, are actually converted into hormone-like substances,” Gardner explained. He added that these fatty acids play a role in regulating blood pressure, vasodilation, coagulation and blood triglyceride levels, all processes that are related to the inflammatory response, he said.

“Omega-3s are a little less inflammatory than omega-6s,” Gardner said. “There are some byproducts of omega-6s that could contribute in some way to inflammation, but the net impact is not pro-inflammatory.”

But there are also health benefits associated with omega-6s.

“Omega-6s, in dozens and dozens of randomized controlled trials in people, improve blood cholesterol levels, multiple aspects of blood cholesterol levels, from raising good cholesterol, like HDL, lowering LDL cholesterol, lowering triglycerides to improve glucose and insulin levels,” Mozaffarian said. “And it’s ironic, because a lot of the influencers talk about diabetes, and there are well-established randomized trials showing that omega-6 fatty acids actually improve glucose, improve insulin resistance, improve insulin secretion by the pancreas.

“They are extremely healthy”he added.

Focusing on these fatty acids is not the best way to tell if a food is healthy, Gardner said. “The important thing is, is it saturated or unsaturated?” he said.

Both omega-3 and omega-6 are a type of unsaturated fat, specifically, polyunsaturated fatty acids. Data shows that eating polyunsaturated fats instead of saturated fats can reduce the risk of heart disease. Most saturated fats come from animal products, such as meat and dairy. Foods that represent the largest sources of saturated fat in the American diet include cheese, pizza, ice cream, and eggs.

“Whether it’s omega-6 or omega-3 is pretty trivial,” Gardner said. “Both are good for you.”

Some of the claims about seed oils are not incorrect, but they are not entirely correct, experts say

It is true, as Kennedy and other detractors claim, that Americans are consuming more seed oils and less animal fat than a century ago. But we’re also eating more fast food and highly processed foods, which tend to contain large amounts of seed oil.

“If you look across the grocery store, let’s say 70% of the store is packaged foods in the center aisles,” said Lisa Young, a registered dietitian and associate professor of nutrition at New York University. “We have tons of garbage that we consume. These seed oils are the basis of all that garbage.”

In other words, the problem is equally likely to be the excess refined carbohydrates, salt and sugar that Americans consume along with seed oils.

It’s tempting to focus on a specific nutrient and blame America’s health problems for it, said Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutritional sciences at Tufts University. Carbohydrates, calories and fat, for example, have taken on the role of nutritional villains in recent decades. But it’s more helpful to consider general dietary patterns, he said. Are people who consume more seed oils doing so because they sauté vegetables in safflower oil at home? Or do they eat more seed oils because they eat more packaged foods?

“Certainly, dietary patterns higher in fish…are associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease,” Lichtenstein said. But, he added, diets higher in fish also tend to be lower in saturated fat and higher in monounsaturated fat. “People (who also eat fish) tend to be more active and tend to smoke less and have other factors that are associated with better health outcomes,” he said.

In other words, one good health habit tends to generate anotherand the same goes for bad health habits. Focusing on one nutritional component misses the bigger picture, Lichtenstein said.

Is there any potential harm from avoiding seed oils?

All that said, choosing to avoid seed oils poses no inherent health dangers, experts said. But there are disadvantages.

Avoiding seed oils completely would mean cooking all foods at home, and that means all food, including salad dressings, sauces and even bread, said Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic. That takes more time than many busy Americans have, he said.

Many weekends, Zumpano prepares a day’s worth of snacks for his three children during their long days of basketball games. It takes time and effort, but for Zumpano, it’s worth it to avoid feeding your kids the processed food offered at the gym. (She doesn’t specifically make the effort to avoid seed oils, but by avoiding processed foods, she ends up avoiding seed oils as well.)

“All they have to eat is hot dogs, fries and a bowl of noodles,” he said. “There is not a single fresh food there”.

But then again, not all parents have time to prepare and pack a whole day’s worth of fresh food, Zumpano said. Plus, seed oils are typically cheaper than many alternatives, he added.

Those on a budget might not have the option of swapping canola oil for comparatively expensive containers of olive oil or avocado oil, which are monounsaturated fats. “Those types of fats, compared to polyunsaturated omega-6s, are less susceptible to rancidity,” Young said.

For Gardner, it’s also a matter of taste. Sometimes you need a neutral oil, he noted. “If you’re cooking corn muffins, do you want to put olive oil on them? “No, I’m going to put corn oil on my corn muffins, because I don’t want the strong taste of olive oil on my corn muffins,” he said. “That would be really strange.”

But what is replacing seed oils? That is the real potential health problemexperts say

Actually, the problem with avoiding seed oils is what people choose to use instead, experts said.

“I think the potential harm will be if enough consumers raise this as a concern, and the industry stops using these oils or restaurants stop using the oil, they will use worse alternatives,” Mozaffarian said.

By “worse alternatives,” he means animal fats such as butter, lard, or beef tallow, all of which are higher in saturated fat than seed oils. Saturated fats are linked to cardiovascular disease and weight gain.

“Animal fats are healthier than white bread” Mozaffarian said, “but they are no healthier than seed oils.”

Instead of focusing on avoiding seed oils, experts said, you would be better off spending that time and mental energy avoiding fast, highly processed foods.

“For years, we’ve told them to eat less sugar and salt and chips and junk food,” Gardner said. “If suddenly telling them that the seed oil in seed oils is killing them (means) they stop eating all that crap for the wrong reason, I’d be delighted.”