Seed oils are NOT inflammatory. Where did this fear start?

In fact, seed oils appear to provide substantial benefits. It's saturated fat you'll want to re-examine in your life.

"For heart health, you want to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats, especially the long-chain polyunsaturated fats," Angelone says. "These fatty acids have a very positive effect on the cardiovascular system." The two most common polyunsaturated fatty acids in plant oils are the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) and the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid (LA). Both ALA and LA are essential nutrients, meaning the human body can't make them so they must come from food. More than 50% of the fatty acids in cottonseed, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, walnut, grapeseed, and flaxseed oil are polyunsaturated.

LA can be converted in the body to the longer-chain arachidonic acid (ARA), which is a precursor of prostaglandins that promote inflammation, blood clotting, and blood pressure–raising vasoconstriction.1 It would seem reasonable, then, to worry that dietary LA could be bad for cardiovascular health, but that doesn't appear to be the case. A systematic review of randomized controlled trials found no evidence that LA increased inflammatory markers, and a 2011 review reported dietary LA intake wasn't related to tissue levels of ARA.1 "Inflammation isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's crucial for healing," Angelone says. "People think omega-6s are bad and omega-3s are good, but we need both in balance to keep our immune systems running properly. Omega-6 starts the healing process by alerting the immune system to a problem, then omega-3 takes over."

*This is not health advice. Talk to your doctor if you make any health changes. Eat foods in moderation people!*