Should You Fear Seed Oils? A Nutrition Expert Breaks It Down

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard the buzz (and backlash) about seed oils. Are they harmful? Do they cause inflammation? Should you avoid them altogether or enjoy them in moderation? Lately, it seems like seed oils are the villain in every aisle. But despite all the noise, the actual research on the topic is still fairly limited. According to renowned nutrition expert and researcher Alan Aragon, much of the fear is overblown, and seed oils may not deserve their bad reputation.

“The big picture is that people over-vilify seed oils,” Aargon says in a recent episode of Huberman Lab with Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. “One side over-vilifies seed oils just like the other side over-vilifies your standard land-animal fats like beef tallow, butter, and lard. But when you compare the evidence base of those two things, you can find more dirt as far as adverse health outcomes from the land-animal fats compared to the seed oils.” 

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According to Huberman, the issue with seed oils isn’t necessarily the oils themselves—it’s what they’re usually paired with. Most people aren’t guzzling canola or vegetable oil at home. Instead, they tend to cook with butter, beef tallow, or olive oil. But when you’re eating out or hitting the drive-thru, that’s where seed oils come into play. The real problem? These oils are often used to deep-fry ultra-processed, calorie-dense foods that, when eaten regularly, can have a negative impact on your health.

“I think people are missing the forest for the trees in general when they’re focused on, honestly, the cooking oils,” Aargon said. “You shouldn’t be drowning or deep frying your stuff on a regular basis anyway.”

Aragon adds that the science simply doesn’t support the fear-mongering around seed oils. Sure, you can dig up a one-off study suggesting canola oil is harmful, but it’s not that black and white. The research as a whole doesn’t justify the level of concern these oils often get.

“When you look at the effects of seed oil that are examined in the literature for various outcomes, everything from the intermediate outcomes like biomarker effects, all the way to hard end points like mortality [and] cardiac events and heart disease…they’re all superior with the seed oils compared to butter, lard, and beef tallow on the whole. So there is a severe misunderstanding and falsely-founded scaremongering with respect to seed oils,” says Aragon.