YOUniversal Health

Caitlin Golden

golden.caitilin8@gmail.com

Today’s food supply is a mystery. The obesity epidemic is taking over causing heart disease to skyrocket. The element that suddenly tainted our food supply remains a mystery to most; however, it is concluded that the unknown killers are vegetable oils. Over the past fifty years, our modern food supply has become very reliant on vegetable oils with most foods containing soybean, corn, or other vegetable oil products. It seems as though it would be an inconsequential ingredient, but when you look further into the product, the effects on one’s health, specifically the cardiovascular system, are detrimental.

To start, vegetable oil is derived from plants, for example, sunflower oil is pressed out of the seed. This sounds simple, but following that, the oil is refined, bleached, and deodorized with numerous harmful chemicals. Moreover, vegetable oil products contain excess LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol fats, such as trans fats, which can be harmful. In a study, 2,300 men and women were randomly assigned to one of two diets; one in which all vegetable oils, and a second that was a “control diet” high in animal fats and butter. Ramsden, the medical investigator at the National Institutes of Health, found that those who ate more vegetable oils lowered their HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol – the beneficial cholesterol – by nearly 14%, thus resulting in heart disease and mortality. This is due to the pressurization of these oils, leading to oxidization. The unsaturated fats found in vegetable oils, when they’re heated and refined, tend to oxidize and form trans fats. In oxidized form, oils are more dangerous to body tissues and can trigger inflammation, a known risk factor for making blood-vessel plaques unstable enough to cause a heart attack (DiNicolantonio, 2018). Additionally, trans fats in vegetable oil form when monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils are ‘hydrogenated’ meaning adding extra hydrogen in order to harden fat (Gunnars, 2019). In most cases, it is used for deep-fried and baked products. This can cause atherosclerosis – a buildup of fatty material and plaque inside the coronary arteries. Atherosclerosis is a significant cause of cardiovascular disease and is the number one cause of death in the United States. 

Atherosclerosis can result in Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). CAD is the most common type of heart disease, killing 360,900 people in 2019. About 18.2 million adults age 20 and older have CAD. In this disease, there is a narrowing or blockage of the coronary arteries. CAD can range from no symptoms, to chest pain, to a heart attack, and mortality (CDC, 2021).

Heart diseases such as CAD primarily lead back to lifestyle choices and diet. Processed and fried foods contain abundant vegetable oil products, causing oxidization and build-up in the arteries. Grocery stores and food manufacturers, in an effort to sell more products,  advertise items as healthy, when really what you’re ingesting is highly processed, thereby removing most, if any, of the benefits. Shoppers have no idea what they buy is so dangerous in part because they have no idea of the process it took to get the food to its current state. Even though there are many studies demonstrating the toxicity of the substance it is continuously manufactured due to shelf-life and randicity. The figure below shows the contents of canola oil. Many vegetable oils have varying percentages of the same elements. 

Components listed as minor comprise less than 1% of canola oil, yet these parts play a large part in determining the stability or shelf life of the oil. Many of these minor elements interact readily with oxygen in the air or other components in the oil to oxidize and form the products associated with rancidity (PennState extension, 2022).  Many of these brands are willing to compromise the populaces health in order to build shelf-life, therefore making more money.

This epidemic is highly prominent in less affluent areas. Organic and fresh food is expensive because its production cost is higher. Between organic fertilizers and nourishing animal feed, organic farmers have higher bills. Additionally, fresh food must be properly refrigerated and stored in transport and in store because it has a shorter shelf life due to its lack of preservatives. Because of this, financially-lacking places can not afford fresh food, nor will high-end grocery stores go to these areas because they will not make a high profit. This creates an imbalance in health among different socioeconomic classes. Impoverished areas will only have access to packaged foods filled with vegetable oils because they are cheap and transportable making poorer individuals more susceptible to obesity and heart disease. This is called the social determinants of health which define how economic conditions affect one’s health. 

The vegetable oil epidemic is something that needs to be vocalized. In today’s society where heart disease is highly prominent, we need to focus on educating the public in regard to niche health topics, such as oils, in an effort to keep the populace healthy.