Prior to 1900, cooking was done with lard and butter, and the processed foods that are now primary sources of soybean oil (and other soy ingredients) were nonexistent. In the 1950s, saturated fats were condemned for raising cholesterol and causing heart disease – a theory that has since been proven wrong, but is still lingering in medical offices and public nutrition regulations. As a result, partially hydrogenated soybean oil was developed to replace saturated fats like butter and lard in the food supply. Not only did consumers embrace it, but food manufacturers did even more so because of its low cost, long shelf-life, and stability at room temperature.
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The problem? Partially hydrogenated oils are sources of trans fats, which are now known to cause chronic health problems such as obesity, asthma, auto-immune disease, cancer, and bone degeneration. While trans fats are now being pulled out of processed foods due to their extreme health risks, soybean oil is still fair game — but it shouldn’t be.
Soybean oil is the most widely produced and consumed oil in the United States today. It’s used to fry fast food products, it’s added to packaged and processed foods, and it’s even fed to livestock. In a 2015 study, researchers linked soybean oil to diabetes, obesity, insulin resistance and fatty liver in mice. In a more recent study published this month, researchers found no difference between soybean oil’s effects on the brain when it was modified verses unmodified.
In the study, the researchers discovered that soybean oil affected more than 100 genes in mice, including a gene that produces oxytocin. The oil had pronounced effects on the hypothalamus, which is responsible for maintaining body temperature, regulating body weight through the metabolism, and playing a critical role in physical growth, reproduction and stress response. The researchers concluded that consuming soybean oil could have serious ramifications on energy metabolism, brain function and diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and even autism.
Poonamjot Deol, the study’s lead author, noted, “If there's one message I want people to take away, it's this: reduce consumption of soybean oil.”