A Personal History Lesson
I began my career as a cardiac rehabilitation dietitian in the late 1970s, a time when our understanding of dietary fats was far more limited than it is today. Back then fats were sorted into black and white categories: polyunsaturated fats were good and saturated fats were bad. We didn’t have a great understanding about the healthfulness of monounsaturated fats (those found in olive oil and avocados), and we rarely talked about how the chemical makeup of fats influenced health.
This visual shows the composition of commonly consumed fats…lots of chemistry names on the chart, but the key is to focus on the blue, yellow and orange bars as these represent the fats most strongly associated with positive health outcomes.
Current Thinking on Fat
Decades of research have improved our understanding of dietary fats. Today the evidence is clear: polyunsaturated fats (those found in vegetable oils, often called seed oils), and in fatty fish) support heart health. Abundant evidence shows that diets rich in unsaturated fats (both mono- and polyunsaturated) consistently show protective effects against heart disease. Importantly, current science does not support the claims that vegetable oils increase inflammation (Click here for the review.)
Health and scientific organizations, including the American Heart Association and the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, recommend polyunsaturated-containing vegetable oils while reducing saturated fats from butter, beef tallow, lard, palm and coconut oils.
Enter Social Media Influencers
As wellness trends spread across social media, so did unfounded claims about “seed oils.” The misinformation even reached the highest level of government health officials. Despite the dire tone, “seed oils” are simply vegetable plant-based oils from corn, soybean, rice bran, grapeseed, canola, cottonseed, sunflower, safflower.
Influencers often rely on misleading graphs that illustrate two trends rising together, implying one causes the other. But correlation alone proves nothing. It is no more meaningful than comparing shark attacks and ice cream sales, as both rise in the summer. Obviously, one doesn’t cause the other!
What about processing?
When science didn’t support vegetable oils were harmful, critics shifted to blaming processing. But processing food, including oils, is done for practical reasons: food safety, longer shelf life, and reducing waste. Processing of vegetables oils doesn’t make them “ultra-processed” or unhealthy. Many foods you eat, bagged salad, yogurt, protein powders, are processed to some degree. What matters is the overall pattern of your diet, not whether an ingredient has been processed.
Key Take Aways
Vegetable oils are heart smart. These unsaturated fats help lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease. (Click here a recent review of the science on vegetable oils.)
Focus on the benefits of vegetable oils, not fear-based claims about how they are made. Science overwhelmingly supports vegetable oils as part of a healthy diet.
Think about your whole diet. Add more vegetables and fruit each day, choose lean cuts of meat, add more pulses (beans, peas, and lentils) to build the half-cup a day habit, and enjoy your meals. (Click here for more on the half-cup habit).
Follow the advice from the American Heart Association
“Healthy eating is about your habits over time, not just one meal. Over time, load up on fruits, veggies, and whole grains. Choose healthy proteins like beans, nuts, fish, lean meats, and low-fat dairy. Cook with heart-healthy oils like olive or canola, cut back on sugar and salt, keep alcohol to a minimum, and choose minimally processed foods whenever possible.“
In my own kitchen, I use soybean, sunflower, canola, olive, and sesame oils. Each brings its own flavor, versatility, and healthy fats to my meals.
What is your favorite oil? What oil do you use most often?
Looking for more information on vegetable oils? Then click here.
I’m Chris Rosenbloom, PhD, RD (Registered Dietitian) and nutrition professor emerita (a fancy word for retired) at Georgia State University in Atlanta. I am also a 51-year member of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I love to read and write and share the fascinating world of nutrition with (older) adults. I co-authored Food & Fitness After 50 (with Bob Murray) and the second edition is with the publisher (more to come on that). I am 74 years old and believe aging is a privilege, so I don’t whine about getting older.
Disclosure: I have no financial relationship with any of the vegetable oils mentioned in this post. I attended a sponsored travel conference where the Soy Nutrition Institute Global sponsored a session presented by leading scientists, but I was not asked nor compensated to write this post.
That was a revelation. Thank you.