MD friend told me she would only eat fast food if it was made with butter and not the usual veggie, canola, or other seed oils. We're talking about real butter from the utter. Not the fake stuff. She claims these other oils are highly processed, provide little nutritional value, and are incredibly bad for you.
She had me stunned. So I put down my banjo and I asked well what's wrong with my regular cooking oils and my tub of I Cannot Believe It's Not Butter?
Well it's simple really. Cooking oils and butter contain saturated fats, Omega 6 Linoleic, Omega 3 Alpha Linolenic Acid, and Omega 9 Oleic Acid. All these are burned for calories by our body or are stored as body fat but we want to focus on the one that is found in so many foods we eat today. Optimally we want to have a balance of Omega 6 and Omega 3 FAs but over the last 150 the Western diet has morphed into one where Omega 6s account for over 20% of the average American's caloric intake.
Omega 6 Linoleic Acids.
Seed oils are highly rich in Omega 6 Linoleic Acid - not to be confused with omega 3 fatty acids found in your fish oil supplements.
Scientists have found consuming excess of amounts of Omega 6 (<10% of daily calories), like eating P Terry's french fries fried with canola oil, leads to a cycle within our cells called Catastrophic Lipid Peroxidation Cascades. Most importantly, this cycle involves mitochondrial dysfunction (Energy Dysregulation & failure) and the creation of Lipid Hydroperoxides.
If you remember the color of your HS biology teacher's underwear (baby blue), you'll know that Mitochondria are the power house of the cell. Under normal function your mitochondria will 'burn' fats through a process called FA Beta-Oxidation or carbohydrates through Glycolysis to produce energy.
HOWEVER, when your cells experience Catastrophic Lipid Peroxidation Cascades from excess Omega 6 your body is no longer able to 'burn' fats.
And there's only one place for these fats to go...
Pretty obvious right? You eat fast food and you get fat. EVERYONE KNOWS THIS.
Curling 40 lbs of fat just to pull out your dick is pretty terrible but it can get much worse than that.
Remember Lipid Hydroperoxide (LOOH)? Well this breaks down into some highly toxic aldehydes... 4-HNE, MDA, OxLams, Acrolein, and Carboxyethyl pyrrole.
Collectively here's what these do:
Cytotoxic - kills cells (like chemo, snake venom)
Mutagenic - Alters DNA (leads to degenerative diseases; Alzheimers, Macular Degeneration, Parkinson's, etc)
Genotoxic - DNA destruction (cancer)
Carcinogenic - Causes cancer
Atherogenic - plaque build up in arteries (atherosclerosis, heart disease, heart attacks)
Thrombogenic - inducing clots (Strokes, heart attacks)
Obesogenic - immense weight gain
Sounds a lot like all the high risk conditions for high covid mortality.
You should have stuck with butter.
If you're curious about the history of Omega 6 FAs in western diets over the last 150 years and how this correlates with Diseases of Civilization, or if you want to a run down of the science behind this, I can recommend no one other than Dr. Chris Knobbe.
Here's a recent presentation loaded with everything you need to know.
Good, bad, ugly of oils (in no particular order)
God tier:
BUTTER
Good Oils(>3% Omega 6):
Coconut oil
MCTs
Other Oils(~10% Omega 6):
Avocado oil (great for high temp cooking)
Lard (classic)
Olive Oil (Mussolini special)
Flaxseed oil (high in Omega 3s but still contains a shit ton of Omega 6s)
Death oils(<10% Omega 6) THROW THESE AWAY:
Cottonseed oil [death]
Peanut Oil
Palm Oil
Sunflower Oil [death]
Safflower Oil
Rapeseed Oil (a Waco, Tx favorite)
Corn Oil [death brought to you by Nebraska]
Soy Oil [death and pussification]
Canola Oil [death]
Vegetable Oil [death]
FAKE BUTTER [death]
Margarine [death]
Shortening [death]
There's also a lot of research behind Omega 3 and Omega 6 ratios. Studies suggest a 1:1 ratio is ideal for health and longevity. However, Omega 6 is consumed in excess by 2-5x of Omega 3s in the US.
So stop eating fast food. Avoid salad dressing. Watch your sauces. Read the ingredients label.