Much of what people perceive as healthy, is really in the category of “health halos.” A health halo is when we perceive a food, brand, or ingredient as healthy, based on factors that are not related to its actual health.
One thing I pride myself on in my clinic is that if there isn’t good science behind it, we don’t advocate it. Good science means good studies, set up well and preferably randomized-controlled. However, even large epidemiological studies with a large amount of data points need to be paid attention to.
There is a lot of controversy about the use of oils in one’s diet: which oils, if any, are harmful and which may have health benefits. Is the much-touted olive oil really good for us, or does it fall in the category of just another health halo?
It is important to note that all oils are 100% fat. It is the only category of food on planet earth we can say that about. In addition, all oils have the highest calorie density of any food at 4,000 calories per pound.
Here’s another interesting fact. In 1920, the average consumption of oils in the United States was four pounds per year, per person. By 2015, less than a hundred years later, the average annual consumption stood at 74 pounds – a more than 18-fold increase!
Coinciding with this drastic increase is an approximately 10-kilogram (22 pound) average weight gain. If losing weight is a goal, the less oil the better. I have dealt with countless individuals who just couldn’t drop weight until we greatly reduced oils in their diet.
The role of Omega 3 and 6
We have always presumed that what discerns a good oil as opposed to a bad oil is the ratio of Omega 3 (the good guys) and Omega 6 (the bad guys). Omega-3 and omega-6 are types of essential fatty acids – meaning we have to get them from food.
In modern diets, there are few sources of omega-3 fatty acids, mainly the fat of cold-water fish such as salmon, sardines, and herring. However, these fish also contain high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol, whose dangers have been explained in previous articles. Better sources are walnuts, flaxseed, kidney beans, wheat germ and various sea vegetables, some of which contain a precursor omega that the body converts to Omega 3.
Consumption of Omega 3 may improve heart health, increase “good” HDL cholesterol, and reduce triglycerides, blood pressure and the formation of arterial plaques. It can also support good mental health and reduce the risk of psychotic disorders, and are also important for preventing dementia.
Unlike Omega 3, omega-6 foods containing these fatty acids are numerous in modern diets. They are found in seeds and nuts, and the oils extracted from them. Refined vegetable and seed oils, such as soy, safflower and sunflower, are used in most of the snack foods, cookies, crackers, and sweets in the American diet, including in fast food. Soybean oil alone is now so prevalent in fast foods and processed foods that an astounding 20% of the calories in the American diet are estimated to come from this single source.
Omega 6 is pro-inflammatory. Inflammation is what is behind most diseases. In an effort to prevent inflammation, we want more omega 3 and less 6. The Western diet is absolutely inundated with omega 6, with the average ratio in the United States today being a whopping 16:1. If we turn the clock back to before World War II, the ratio ranged from 1:1 to 3:1. In short, we consume way too much omega 6 and not enough omega 3.
Olive Oil
Surprisingly, even olive oil has an 11:1 ratio of omega 6 to 3. We already know from the Talmud that olive oil may have health benefits. In Tractate Horayot (13b), it is touted as great for memory. In our more modern era, during the 1990s, olive oil began being perceived as being very beneficial to our health with the popularization of the Mediterranean diet. Cultures that have a more Mediterranean-style diet have less heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other chronic conditions.
It seems that using extra-virgin olive oil is healthy. The question is, which aspects of the Mediterranean diet bring such great results? Is it the olive oil or is the plant predominance of the diet that is more responsible for better health outcomes? To test this, preventive cardiologist Dr. Monica Aggarwal put together a study.
This study, which replicated a study done on a smaller scale by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, used people who were not plant-based eaters and divided them into two groups. One group ate a plant-predominant diet with olive oil and the other ate the same diet minus the olive oil. After four weeks, the groups switched in this crossover study.
There were many conclusions to consider. All participants saw weight loss and lower LDL cholesterol. Dr. David Katz of The True Health Initiative points out that even the group with the oil did much better than they did on an omnivore diet. While this indeed shows the power of plant predominance, the group without the olive oil showed an even greater drop in LDL cholesterol and weight.
Oil is liquid fat. In most cases, it is not as dangerous as the fats found in meats and dairy. However, oils such as palm oil and coconut oil also have very high amounts of saturated fats and should be avoided at all costs. In 2019, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn published an article in the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention linking evidence of oil consumption and damage to the endothelial cells in our arteries. Just another good reason to keep your oils very low in your diet.
Is olive oil a health food? It might have some health benefits in small amounts. We are certainly better off eating olives instead of olive oil, seeds and nuts instead of their oils, and avocados instead of avocado oil. But it does have a health halo around it, like many other foods that people are not aware of.
Oil has completely permeated the food chain over the last 40 years making it hard to avoid it altogether. If you can avoid processed foods that contain oil, learn how to cook without it, and substitute different sauces and dressings instead of the oil-based ones, you will “add hours to your days, days to your years and years to your lives.”
The writer is a health and wellness coach and personal trainer with more than 25 years of professional experience, and has recently been appointed to the Council of the True Health Initiative. He is director of The Wellness Clinic, and can be reached at alan@alanfitness.com.