The Hateful 8 Oils

During this time of global pandemic reflection, researchers are looking at a variety of reasons why certain people are struggling with symptoms and dying faster than others. Although the affliction of COVID-19 is more dangerous for those vulnerable such as the elderly and the sick, some scientists feel it is an accumulated compromised immune system unable to fight the good fight which is to blame. This may be the explanation for some young people being seriously afflicted or even killed by this virus.  

Several studies have indicated that the overconsumption of certain seed oils, known as ‘The Hateful Eight’ (not to be confused with the movie), may be ground zero for a compromised immune system. It is one thing when you feel run down and susceptible to illness but it is another thing when you are feeling perfectly fine however, internally, you are a living with false hope of an immune system being able to function efficiently. 

Find out how the hateful eight oils are affecting you and what you can do to help your body get back on track, even if you think you are already there. 

Your Metabolism Has Been Hijacked

You may describe yourself as having a fast or slow metabolism, primarily when describing your weight. However, metabolism involves a complex system that is essential for an array of bodily functions.

Dr. Ananya Mandal, MD, at News Medical Life Sciences (NMLS) describes metabolism,

Metabolism is a term that is used to describe all chemical reactions involved in maintaining the living state of the cells and the organism. Metabolism can be conveniently divided into two categories:

• Catabolism – the breakdown of molecules to obtain energy
• Anabolism – the synthesis of all compounds needed by the cells

As humans evolved from hunters and gatherers to relying on factory farming and an industrialized food chain, the state of overall health has slowly deteriorated. It may seem that humans are living longer, healthier lives given more educated health decisions but looks can be highly deceiving. Particularly when many people are managing their elder years with a subpar diet and a host of daily medications just to stay alive. 

NMLS reports,

“Nutrition is the key to metabolism. The pathways of metabolism rely upon nutrients that they breakdown in order to produce energy. This energy in turn is required by the body to synthesize new proteins, nucleic acids (DNA, RNA) etc.”

Eating foods that have been highly processed seems almost unavoidable. Everywhere you go most foods have been stepped on and manipulated for anything from shelf life capability to cost effective applications. Much of this involves the saturation of seed oils known as the hateful 8. The result is a society of people seemingly doing fine when a different story is hijacking their metabolism.

PUFA

Seed oils come from specific sources that have been manipulated into a huge conglomerate of food manufacturing. This is for the sole purpose of mass production disregarding health at all costs and instead offering you the convenience and taste of processed foods.

The oils are known as PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) oils and because they are so unstable they can compromise balanced health, particularly your metabolism. It turns out that continued accumulated consumption of PUFA seed oils leads to cellular inflammation. Inflammation creates a robust environment for disease making a good portion of the population vulnerable to a variety of ailments. As a result, a majority of people are reliant on one or more pharmaceutical fixes when all that needs to be done is to reduce bad seed oil consumption.

The Hateful 8

The PUFA seed oils recommended to be avoided are described as the hateful eight.

These oils are:

• Canola
• Corn
• Cottonseed
• Grapeseed
• Ricebran
• Safflower
• Sunflower
• Soy

Renowned functional nutritionist Chris Kessler reported on the process of refining these seed oils stating that,

• First, seeds are gathered from the soy, corn, cotton, safflower, and rapeseed plants.
• Next, the seeds are heated to extremely high temperatures; this causes the unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds to oxidize, creating byproducts that are harmful to human and animal health.
• The seeds are then processed with a petroleum-based solvent, such as hexane, to maximize the amount of oil extracted from them.
• Next, industrial seed oil manufacturers use chemicals to deodorize the oils, which have a very off-putting smell once extracted. The deodorization process produces trans fats, which are well known to be quite harmful to human health.
• Finally, more chemicals are added to improve the color of the industrial seed oils.

After this process you easily consume these oils which are in most processed foods you choose. After years of eating these foods your body may have a difficult time doing its job to fight off disease or worse yet begins fighting itself which is known as an auto-immune response. Now it is believed that COVID-19 may be killing young people because unbeknownst to them their body’s are fully inflamed and primed for the coronavirus pathogen.

Avoiding the COVID-19 Risk through Diet

Dr. Cate Shanahan who coined the phrase “hateful eight”, author of ‘The Fatburn Fix’, and who recently appeared on the Bill Maher show explains the COVID-19 risk of the accumulated effect of eating seed oils, 

“The virus is not what’s killing most of us under the age of 65. For the elderly, or for those who are otherwise immunocompromised, the sheer viral load can be too much for the body to deal with. But for the rest of us, the real threat is not the virus itself, but the way your body responds. Most of the folks under 65 who have to be admitted to the ICU are there because their body fat is full of inflammation-promoting high-PUFA seed oils. In other words, if seed oils were removed from the equation, then there would be nobody under 65 in the ICU unless they’ve got a rare immune deficiency disorder or are in the middle of chemo for cancer or have something else very serious that’s going on.”

Dr. Shanahan recommends the following to start avoiding PUFA seed oils:

• Make your own salad dressing. Even if you buy your organic, GMO free dressing at Trader Joes or Whole Foods, chances are it’s made from one of the hateful eight oils. This applies even if the front of the bottle says made with olive oil. You always need to read the ingredients. So take a snapshot of this hateful 8 and keep it on your phone.

• Take a good look at the ingredients in what you eat. Scan anything with an ingredients list for one of the members of the Hateful 8 clan. If you want alternatives, here’s a shopping guide to finding vegetable oil free products available in some of the most common grocery stores in the USA.

• Support restaurants that refuse to use the Hateful 8. There are numerous excuses you will hear why a restaurant doesn’t use olive oil or another healthy, traditional fat. Canola is heart-healthy. We use soy instead of peanut because of peanut allergies. It’s a neutral taste that people prefer. It’s got a high smoke point. Those excuses are the best marker I know of for a chef who has lost his passion. Whenever we’ve found a chef that proudly tells you he only uses olive oil and butter, or any of the good fats, we’ve also found the food coming out of the kitchen to be absolutely the best.

• Find out how much vegetable oil is in your body fat. While there’s no direct test other than doing a subcutaneous fat biopsy and sending it to a lab for a full analysis, which you can’t do unless your part of a research study, you can get a decent idea of how your body fat is impacting your metabolism by finding out if you are insulin resistant. Ask you doctor for a HOMA-IR test. If he doesn’t know what it is, ask if he’ll order a fasting glucose and fasting insulin level. Then plug your numbers into this calculator

You can make a difference to your health and your ability to fight off disease before it takes you by surprise. Stay away from the hateful 8 and live a cleaner healthier life.