Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Vegetable oil – like canola oil and the oil used for deep frying in fast food restaurants – has been studied and found to be very unhealthy and dangerous. Why? Because these vegetable oils rapidly become rancid and adulterated and oxidized and therefore toxic. Of course, vegetable oils are primarily omega 6 fatty acids (linoleum acid). Accordingly, many people believe that omega 6 fatty acids and vegetable oils are bad for them. But is that true? The resounding answer is NO! Why? Let’s think together. Because if you eat omega 6 fatty acids which are NOT rancid or adulterate or oxidized, and instead eat them fresh from nature – i.e. non-rancid, non-adulterated and not oxidized, then you are getting the most valuable oils available for human consumption. The skin has 1000x more omega 6 fatty acids than omega 3 fatty acids. The nervous system has 100x more omega 6 than omega 3 fatty acids. So. where can you get non-rancid, non-adulterated, non-oxidized omega 6 (linoleic) fatty acids? From organic, non-GMO seeds, nuts and vegetables! Eat the seed and change your oil! Good oil in drives bad oil out and enhances exodus of toxins (typically stored in fatty tissue). Allow your cell membranes to breath – omega 6 actively transports oxygen into the cells.
Why your heart needs linoleic acid – even though your doctor says otherwise
by Frank Shallenberger MD October 11, 2013
Many people have mistakenly maligned omega-6 fatty acids as dangerous. Instead, they’ve pushed the public to move toward marine oils for cardiovascular health. Many scientists have suggested that western countries should curtain their intake of omega-6 oils. But another group of scientists has found otherwise.
The authors of this study essentially hit, almost verbatim, the teachings of my fatty acid mentor, Prof. Brian Peskin, on omega-6 fatty acids. They critically examined the effects of adulterated and unadulterated forms of omega-6 on cardiovascular outcomes. They went further. They looked at the much maligned arachidonic acid connection to linoleic acid (LA), the real essential omega-6 oil.
They found that unadulterated forms of LA “are cardioprotective and should be consumed as part of a healthy diet.” In contrast, they found that “adulterated” forms of LA are the problem, particularly hydrogenated vegetable oil, but also oxidized oils, such as you would get in frying.
LA gets a bad rap – even in my physician circles – as it is the precursor for arachidonic acid (AA), an omega-6 derivative. True enough, AA is a precursor for some hot pro-inflammatory molecules. On the other hand, AA is a critical part of your brain’s membranes and is the precursor for the most important vasodilator and vascular lubricator your body makes – prostacyclin.
Please don’t fear omega-6 oils in your diet. I am of the opinion now that we make too much hey over the omega 3:6 ratio rather than account for the amount of oxidized/deranged/adulterated versions of these oils from processing and heat. For instance, nuts have tremendous protective effects on vascular disease. They mostly provide omega-6, though walnuts are a great source of omega-3 as well. But, if you heat the nuts (roasted), you may have just adulterated fats.
Hats off to Prof. Peskin for pointing this out years before the mainstream picked it up.