Diet is a key factor in our overall health and wellbeing. It is well known that not eating enough of certain foods or eating too much of others can have specific consequences on parts of the body.
The heart is no exception to this with health bodies often issuing warnings about what to avoid. Now an expert has revealed the “number one worst food” for your heart.
Speaking on YouTube, Dr Eric Berg, said: “Let’s talk about the number one worst food for your heart – hint it’s not sugar.”
He continued: “It’s a primary driver of heart disease, it creates potent and massive inflammation inside your arteries and also this food is directly correlated as far as the consumption and introduction into our food supply and the exact statistics of getting heart disease. I mean they’re on the same trend going up.”
The food he is warning about is seed oil. Seed oil is any type of vegetable oil that comes from the seed of a plant.
He said previously the worst food for your heart would be trans fats, however, these are not consumed as much as they used to be.
Whereas, seed oils are found in “so many of our foods”, he said.
He warned that seed oil can:
- Create inflammation inside the arteries
- Creates oxidative low-density lipoprotein (“bad” cholesterol) inside your arteries
- Increase the risk of developing metabolic syndrome
- Increase the risk of clotting
- Create oxidative stress.
Dr Berg explained: “This food is an industrial product that is heated five times, contains added chemicals, and is devoid of anything living at all. The food we’re talking about is seed oil.
“Vegetable oil is one of the most commonly used seed oils and isn’t really made of vegetables at all. Seed oils are generally composed of corn, cottonseed, canola, or soy oil.
“Vegetable oil is an unsaturated fatty acid, so it’s very unstable and susceptible to oxidation. Light, air, oxygen, and temperature can all cause seed oils to oxidise”.
He warned that they will be found in many of the foods we eat.
“Seed oils are in so many of our foods,” Dr Berg said. They’re used in cooking but also used in salad dressings, condiments, and in almost all ultra-processed foods.
“Check labels to avoid seed oil consumption. Condiments and salad dressings often contain seed oils, so opt for versions without, or you can even make your own.”
Instead of using seed oils at home he recommended: “Use butter, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and lard for cooking instead of seed oils.”
However, some research has suggested that poly-unsaturated fatty acids, which include seed oil, are OK to consume.
One such study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 1979.
But Dr Berg claimed the study had “several flaws”, in that it wasn’t randomised and “there were many other variables, like participants on medications and those who smoked”.
Experts at Harvard Health in the US have also queried how bad seed oil actually is.
“While it’s true that many foods that use seed oils—such as packaged snacks and French fries—are unhealthy, they also tend to be high in refined carbohydrates, sodium, and sugar,” it said.
Therefore, cutting back on these foods are likely to make you feel better.
It added: “But these other components, not the seed oils themselves, are the culprit behind weight gain and other negative health outcomes.”
Multiple studies have concluded that olive oil is the most heart-friendly cooking oil to use, with it shown to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke among other conditions.