"Seed oils are a subset of vegetable oils, but not all vegetable oil is bad.
Palm oil, coconut oil, olive oil and avocado oil are four common types of vegetable oil; the most common vegetable oil in the world is palm oil. These other vegetable oils are preferable because they can be produced by cold pressing, and they have lower levels of the linoleic acid that is a cause for concern in seed oils.
While other vegetables, such as olives and avocadoes, will release their oil under mechanical pressure alone, seed oils must be extracted under high heat, using a chemical solvent.
While other vegetables, such as olives and avocadoes, will release their oil under mechanical pressure alone, seed oils must be extracted under high heat, using a chemical solvent.
The solvent used in extracting seed oils is basically gasoline; it is classified based upon the number of carbon atoms in the molecule, ranging from five to eight. Pentane, hexane, heptane, and octane can all be used for oil extraction, but hexane is currently the most widely used for that purpose.
Oil solubility in solvent increases with temperature; the higher the temperature, the more oil recovered, and the faster it can be recovered. But there are obvious risks to using hexane at high temperatures; hexane is extremely flammable. Strict precautions must be taken to avoid fire and minimize the risk of explosions at seed oil extraction plants.
There are three major steps in seed oil extraction:
Oil solubility in solvent increases with temperature; the higher the temperature, the more oil recovered, and the faster it can be recovered. But there are obvious risks to using hexane at high temperatures; hexane is extremely flammable. Strict precautions must be taken to avoid fire and minimize the risk of explosions at seed oil extraction plants.
There are three major steps in seed oil extraction:
(2) getting the solvent out of the meal and the oil,
(3) toasting the meal.
It is not possible to remove all of the hexane from the oil; some hexane remains in the product that will go on to be consumed as food, although it is less than 1%. The residual content of hexane in seed oils after processing is not even regulated by the FDA.
High consumption of seed oils seems to correlate with metabolic syndrome:
High consumption of seed oils seems to correlate with metabolic syndrome:
obesity,
high blood pressure,
high cholesterol,
heart disease,
high blood sugar,
diabetes, etc.
It also correlates with cancer and other health problems."
Elizabeth Iskander, MD/Fulcrum7
Elizabeth Iskander, MD/Fulcrum7