There’s a lot of discourse online about whether or not seed oils are bad for you.

Some will claim that there’s “not enough research” proving seed oils are harmful, and therefore will gladly eat it and tell others to do so.

Today let’s break this down by looking at research.

Seed Oils & Your Mitochondria

At the root of nearly every chronic disease is mitochondrial dysfunction — your cell’s energy factories breaking down.

Seed oils drive this collapse in three ways:

1. They alter cardiolipin – a critical fat inside your mitochondria that keeps energy production stable. Once distorted, energy leaks, potassium balance is disrupted, and cells die prematurely.

2. They oxidize into toxins – unstable double bonds in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) break down into harmful byproducts like HNE, acrolein, and MDA. These compounds directly damage DNA, proteins, and membranes.

3. They inflame your body – PUFAs feed the production of prostaglandins, inflammatory molecules implicated in cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune illness.

The average person today carries more than 20% of their body fat as linoleic acid (the main PUFA in seed oils).

Fifty years ago, that number was closer to 7%.

Think of it as leaving a bottle of oil out in the sun—it eventually turns rancid. The same process happens in your tissues.

Seed Oils & Heart Disease

Mainstream medicine blames LDL cholesterol for artery plaques.

But what they miss is this: cholesterol doesn’t become a problem until it’s oxidized.

And what drives that oxidation? Linoleic acid.

When researchers analyzed arterial plaques directly, they found them loaded with oxidized omega-6 fats.

Other studies have found, showed that replacing saturated fat with seed oils increased heart attacks and deaths, not reduced them.

Cancer: Fueling the Fire

Every cancer cell shares one trait—broken energy metabolism.

Thomas Seyfried’s research shows that defective cardiolipin in mitochondria (remember what we just said about mitochondria?) prevents normal glucose oxidation, forcing cells into fermentation.

What damages cardiolipin? PUFAs.

Their breakdown products (MDA, HNE) not only mutate DNA but also trigger uncontrolled growth.

Breast cancer studies link higher PUFA intake to greater estrogen production and oxidative damage.

Skin cancers show similar patterns when PUFAs oxidize under UV exposure.

In other words, seed oils set the stage for cancer on multiple fronts.

Alzheimer’s and Cognitive Decline

Neurodegeneration is another disease of energy collapse.

This scientific article describes how lipids (including PUFAs) in AD brains are more prone to oxidation and how those oxidation products contribute to membrane damage, disrupted signaling, and energy metabolism errors

Animal studies confirm what happens when seed oils replace stable fats: memory worsens, cognition declines, and amyloid plaques build.

The Bottom Line

There’s nuance here—the people online saying “seed oils are harmless” are wrong.

That being said, consuming some seed oil at a restaurant once or every other week is fine.

Eliminating them is not about dietary perfection; it’s about removing huge doses of metabolic poison that quietly dismantles your body.

Until next time,

Kashif Khan

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