Seed Oils Decoded: My Secret to a Perfect Omega-6/3 Ratio

Seedless to say there is controversy on the topic of seed oils. Seed oils are one of the most unhealthy ingredients that we have in foods. And are you not entertained? Call it a trend, a fad, or a scientific awakening, Whatever you want to call it, it's clearly a matter of interest and debate. So in this video, I'm going to review 6 critical points you need to know that will help you cut through the confusion and make the most practical decisions with respect to your diet. First, it's important to clearly define what seed oils are. I think of them as highly oxidized refined, heated, and damaged oils, like the french fry oil at McDonald's, which is not the same as the oil in raw seeds or nuts like walnuts. That should be obvious, but it deserves emphasis. Point 2: In building on the prior point, seed oils should not be equated with polyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFA for short. Including omega-6 or linoleic acid, as they often are. Seed oils conflated with PUFA and omega-6. So what's the distinction among these terms? Well, PUFA are fatty acids with multiple double bonds, making them fragile and prone to oxidation or damage. And PUFA include omega-3, as from fatty fish, and omega-6 fats. And the most prevalent omega-6 is linoleic acid, which is found in high levels in many what people call seed oils. And the conflation and confusion of these overlapping but distinct terms is, in my opinion, one major reason it's been impossible to resolve this issue, because we can't come to a consensus if we're talking about different topics. Okay, moving on. 3. Overload of omega-6 fatty acids which are enriched in, quote, seed oils, most of them, can cause inflammation. This is true. Specifically, an imbalance of the omega-6 to omega-3 in the body can create problems contributing to inflammation. And because omega-6 are so prevalent in the Western diet, you can see how people come to believe that avoiding seed oils, also rich in the Western diet, would be beneficial. I do think there is some reason here, and it's also true that most people in the developed world have an imbalance of omega-6 and omega-3 in the body, with too much omega-6 and too little omega-3. That is all true. However, dietary omega-6 and dietary omega-3 intake does not directly translate, at least not linearly, into blood and/or membrane levels of omega-6 and 3 in the body. In other words, and by way of example, if your dietary intake of omega-6 is 10x and your dietary intake of omega-3 is x, the ratio of these fatty acids in your body is unlikely to actually be 10:1. The body's ratios are determined in part by dietary intake, yes, but also by various metabolic processes that makes the calculus far more complicated. So, in truth, the only way to know what your body's ratios are is to measure them, and there are various services that can do so for you. Now, taking myself as an example, my absolute intake of omega-6 fat is way greater than my intake of omega-3 fat, although I do eat a lot of fatty fish. And this is on account of the fact that I consume some higher omega-6 real foods like tahini, which is made from sesame, walnuts, and pecans. However, My measured omega-6 to 3 ratio is a perfect 1 to 1 with a 17.2% EPA and DHA index, which is super hard to beat. Now, as a quick nuance note, the direct impact of omega-6 to 3 ratio can best be assessed through transgenic animal models since in humans, omega-6 and omega-3, they're not synthesized de novo, new in the body. So in order to manipulate the 6 to 3 ratio in humans, you need to change other dietary components. All of this can be overcome in animal models with genetic manipulations that allow them to make omega-6 and 3, and then you can see the direct impact of the 6:3 ratio in the body. And indeed, 6 overload versus 3 deficiency does contribute to inflammation. So anyway, nuance note over, moving on. Point 4, I'm going to call real foods for the win. Thanks, nature. So real foods are often packed with compounds that may compensate for and/or protect against oxidation of the fragile omega-6 fats and polyunsaturated fats. For example, sesame oil and sesame products like tahini contain about 40% or more omega-6 linoleic acid, but in the context of the lignans, in the sesame, the natural antioxidants, the rate of oxidation of this fragile fat is much, much lower than of the naked omega-6 linoleic acid. So shown here, you can see the antioxidant effect of sesame lignans on the peroxidation oxidation of omega-6 linoleic acid. The tall line is the control, and the graph shows how the natural compounds in sesame protect omega-6 linoleic acid from oxidation. Pretty cool, right? Interesting. Okay, moving on. 5, and this is really important: randomized controlled trials are not up to the task. Okay, what do I mean by this? So short-term randomized controlled trials, including calorie and macronutrient controlled trials, are really not equipped to properly assess the potential harms of, quote, seed oils. Whether you define seed oils here as highly oxidized oils, like the McDonald's fryer oil, or just too much omega-6, versus a control, the physiologic changes induced by the omega-6 to 3 imbalance and/or oxidative stress take many months, and more likely years, to really manifest. Thus, a negative finding in a relatively short-term randomized controlled trial can pose a false negative for the health effects. And this is really important to point out because in assessing a claim, for example, the relative health impacts of a high omega-6 fat source versus another fat source, so seed oil versus butter, you could say, we have to appreciate what data can be practically collected to answer the question. And in this case, we do need to extrapolate based on non-randomized controlled trial data about the potential harms of, quote, "seed oils." And just saying, "But show me the RCT," isn't a sufficient rebuttal in terms of health outcomes, at least not in my opinion. Anyway, moving on. 6. Metabolic and macronutrient context really matters. As I mentioned earlier, the degree to which omega-6 and omega-3 end up getting stored in the body and/or used for structural purposes depends on many metabolic factors. And in the context of very low-carbohydrate ketogenic diets, polyunsaturated fat and omega-6 are very efficiently converted into ketone bodies, like beta-hydroxybutyrate. Thus, consuming foods rich in omega-6, like sesame oil can in this context, this metabolic context, actually be used as a biohack to increase ketone levels. And this can be useful if you want high ketones for therapeutic effect, as in epilepsy or other neurological disorder. And if you want more on that, see this video. But to be clear, I am not saying one should therefore go and chug rapeseed oil to boost their ketone levels. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying the same exposure here omega-6 intake, can translate into vastly different metabolic outcomes based on the metabolic context and dietary context of the consumer. So, in high-level summary of my perspective, based on the basic physiology, I do think it's reasonable to believe, quote, "seed oils," defined strictly per points 1 and 2, can be harmful beyond just the calorie load. However, it's unreasonable to claim, as many do, that seed oils are poison or that they are the reason for the obesity epidemic. And it's also not reasonable to claim that all omega-6 linoleic acid-rich foods are bad because of their polyunsaturated fat content. I don't believe that's reasonable. Now, as for what I do personally, I prioritize whole foods, be that walnuts, sesame, or ribeye steak. I cook with fats and oils that are stable at higher heats, including ghee, macadamia oil, and olive oil. And I prioritize omega-3-rich foods, especially those lower in mercury, like sardines and sockeye salmon. In the end, you can do as you please, whatever makes you sleep best. But I think you have more to fear from the stress response of avoiding omega-6 in your diet like it's the plague than from consuming some raw walnuts. That's my take. With that, stay curious, stay reasonable, stay nuanced, and let me know your thoughts. I'm sure I'm gonna get a lot of interesting comments on this video. Bye.