What Does The Science Actually Say About Seed Oils?

PS

Paul Saladino24m · 2025-10-23

Claims Made

46

Claims Supported

11

Support Rate

24%

Support rate

11 of 46 claims supported

11 supported35 partial / not

Claims from this content

32

Partially SupportedThe traditional ancestral diet contained approximately 1% linoleic acid, whereas the average modern diet contains around 10%.Well SupportedConsuming a high amount of seed oils is associated with significantly higher rates of cardiovascular disease compared to saturated fat consumption.Partially SupportedModern statistical analysis of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment found no difference in cardiac events between polyunsaturated fats and other fats, contradicting the original analysis.Not SupportedFocusing solely on smashing LDL levels with drugs is a flawed model for treating heart disease.

Discussion

Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this content — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.

M

Share your read of this content…

Posting publicly as you · linked to your social profiles

Sort by:

AV

A. Volkovreader

4h

Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.

NP

N. Park

2d

Would love a "what would change this verdict" RSS feed. Sign me up if it exists.

Partially Supported

It is easy to consume over 10% of daily calories from linoleic acid through common foods and cooking practices.

Partially SupportedThe Minnesota Coronary Experiment results, which suggested polyunsaturated fats were not beneficial for humans, were not published for many years by the primary authors.

Partially SupportedIn the Ozodiet Heart study, soybean oil consumption reduced serum cholesterol and coronary heart disease relapse, but the control group had high trans fat intake.

Partially SupportedGiving individuals seed oils can lower LDL, but this does not necessarily decrease cardiovascular disease in trials.

Partially SupportedIn the Minnesota Coronary Experiment, the highest degree of cholesterol lowering was associated with the highest increased rate of death.

Not SupportedSaturated fat has not been definitively shown to be harmful for humans and may be beneficial.

Partially SupportedThe Finnish Mental Hospital Study had inadequate randomization, differences in baseline characteristics, and more common use of the cardiotoxic medication thyoritazine in the control group.

Not SupportedSome trials may have skewed results against saturated fat by giving control groups diets with more trans fat and cardiotoxic medications.

Partially SupportedThe results of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment were not published for many years and were later recovered and re-analyzed.

Partially SupportedPolyunsaturated fats lower LDL cholesterol.

Partially SupportedThe Minnesota Coronary Experiment showed a drop in LDL in the corn oil group but trending towards worse mortality and cardiovascular disease.

Partially SupportedMeta-analyses may favor seed oils by including poorly constructed trials, and excluding these flawed studies could alter conclusions.

Partially SupportedThe American Heart Association does not provide guidelines on limiting linoleic acid intake.

Partially SupportedThe Minnesota Coronary Experiment's results were re-analyzed 16 years later by Chris Ramsden after finding the original data in a primary author's basement.

Partially SupportedKey questions regarding health include whether elevated LDL is a concern and the choice between consuming butter versus soybean oil.

Partially SupportedThe design of studies showing results different from the observed benefits of certain interventions may have major fatal flaws.

Partially SupportedIn the Finnish Mental Hospital Study, a cholesterol-lowering diet was associated with reduced coronary heart disease mortality, but control diets had significantly more trans fat.

Partially SupportedRandomized controlled trials on seed oils versus saturated fat are generally old and may have significant design flaws.

Partially SupportedThe Ozodiet Heart study's results regarding seed oils are confounded by other dietary changes in the experimental group.

Partially SupportedThe hypothesis that increased trans fat skewed the Minnesota Coronary Experiment results is questioned because LDL levels decreased in that group.

Partially SupportedThe Minnesota Coronary Experiment was a large, rigorously conducted, double-blinded trial investigating dietary fat intake and cardiovascular outcomes.

Partially SupportedConventional medicine rarely cautions against consuming excessive amounts of linoleic acid.

Partially SupportedA randomized controlled trial showed participants over 65 consuming corn oil had a higher cumulative proportion of death compared to a control group.

Not SupportedStudies with contradictory evidence on diet and heart health are sometimes dismissed.

Partially SupportedCriticisms of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment include higher trans fat content in the corn oil group and a ~75% patient dropout rate.

Not SupportedMainstream recommendations for cholesterol lowering are challenged by findings from studies like the Minnesota Coronary Experiment.

Partially SupportedAnimal data and mechanistic studies can help guide health decisions when human trial data is imperfect.

Partially SupportedIncreased intake of polyunsaturated fats may be associated with worse health outcomes, indicated by higher death incidence correlating with greater LDL reduction in the Minnesota Coronary Experiment.