On this, the newly confirmed HHS secretary probably has a valid point.
On this, the newly confirmed HHS secretary probably has a valid point.
R FK Jr. is confirmed, and America is on its way to becoming healthy again . . . maybe? If HHS continues to scrutinize the rise of obesity in this country — including the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods — that would be a fine start.
RFK Jr. put seed oils in his scope well before his appointment to HHS. In a post on X, he connected the rise of obesity and chronic illness in America with “the rise of processed foods and the replacement of saturated fat in our diets with highly processed seed oils.” Of course, RJK Jr. is not alone. Seed oils are a favorite nemesis of online, libertarian influencers and crunchy homestead moms alike (a Venn diagram with a surprisingly large overlap).
Most anti-seed-oil advocates call for replacing processed seed oils with beef tallow. At theungovernableproject.com, customers can purchase products such as a gallon of grass-fed beef tallow for $125 or scented beef-tallow skin cream for $45. Tallow Mom on X is a “Tallow Based Mother” who crafts delicious-looking homemade food, brandishes raw milk (“raw is law,” she writes), and sells tallow soaps and balms through her online shop.
Like many other RFK Jr. allies, Tallow Mom has also reposted statements skeptical of vaccines. Contrary to hardcore vaccine naysayers, you should still get your kids vaccinated for measles, but these tallow mothers and irascible libertarians are on to something — industrially processed seed oils deserve a closer look.
Seed oils commonly come in the form of canola, corn, cottonseed, soybean, sunflower, safflower, grapeseed, and rice bran oils. Each of these oils undergoes a particular industrial process, but they all follow a similar pattern from being seeds on a plant to being packaged in their final, liquid form.
To begin, seeds are collected from the plants and cleaned. The seed is then crushed and conditioned by intense heating. This process results in a higher yield of expressed oil, but it also causes the unsaturated fatty acids in the seeds to oxidize, creating potentially hazardous by-products — including carcinogenic compounds and trans fats.
The conditioned seed is then pressed, creating two products: the raw pressed oil and the compressed material of the seed. The latter product, a “press cake,” is then processed with hexane, which is toxic in large amounts, to chemically extract the rest of its oil. (The Harvard School of Public Health clarifies, however, that the trace levels of hexane in seed oils are not nearly large enough to have health consequences.) The leftover solids are a critical source of protein for livestock feed across the country.
Finally, the mechanically and chemically expressed oils are recombined for bleaching and further processing. As the raw oil has a very unpleasant smell, industrial manufacturers use chemicals to deodorize the product; this is a high-heat process that also produces traces of trans fats and other harmful by-products.
Today, seed-oil consumption has reached an all-time high. On average, Americans consume more than three tablespoons of seed oil each day — or 32 pounds each year. The Seed Oil Free Alliance estimates that 20–30 percent of the average American’s daily calorie intake comes from highly refined seed oils. This is a major shift from past human diets, as most modern seed oils didn’t exist until the mid-19th century, when the technology necessary to extract them en masse was invented. The estimated per capita consumption of soybean oil increased more than a thousandfold from 1909 to 1999.
Many colorful influencers, including RFK Jr., blame anti-saturated-fat propaganda and secretive government forces for the rise of seed oils. In 1961, the American Heart Association recommended replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated vegetable oils (a.k.a. seed oils) as a means to reduce the risk of heart disease — a line it still holds. The force of the free market contributed to the rise of seed oils as well, since they are cheaper, they enable longer shelf-life for manufactured foods, and they last longer in restaurant fryers than tallow does.
While the mass health effects of seed oils are under-studied, obesity rates have very closely tracked the level of seed oils in the food supply since 1960. Even though the average calorie intake decreased after 2000, obesity rates continued to rise. The adult obesity rate in the U.S. now stands at 40 percent, up from 30 percent in 2000.
Although a causal relationship between seed-oil consumption and obesity has not been sufficiently demonstrated, Americans are becoming more aware of the potential harms of seed-oil overconsumption. Even before RFK Jr. emerged as the face of MAHA, the FDA was busy rewriting its regulations and recommendations on fats in processed food.
In 2018, the FDA banned artificial trans fats from manufactured foods, because of their link with obesity, heart disease, and neurological degeneration. The largest conveyor of trans fats in the marketplace was partially hydrogenated oil (PHO): oil combined with hydrogen to become solid at room temperature (trans fats are an inherent by-product of the hydrogenation process). Since the FDA ban, PHOs — and trans fats — have vanished from grocery store aisles.
Well, almost. Trace amounts of trans fats are still present in all seed oils, because the industrial process produces them. Foods labeled with “0g” of trans fat may still contain a small amount — if there is less than 0.5g of trans fat per serving, brands can advertise that the food is “trans fat–free.”
The only way to avoid artificial trans fats entirely is to use “cold-pressed” or “virgin” oils — or to return to tallow. This shift to tallow is happening among Tallow Moms, fast food chains, and entrepreneurs alike.
Steven Rofrano, the co-founder and CEO of Ancient Crunch Co., believes in the supremacy of tallow. His company produces MASA chips — organic corn chips fried in 100 percent grass-fed beef tallow. The project that Rofrano started in his parents’ backyard, with corn tortillas and a tallow-filled turkey fryer, has gained a cult following and now sells nearly 2 million bags of chips a year. The company represents a niche corner of the political vibe shift. “It’s quite clear,” Rofrano told me, “that five years ago, we would not have been talking about an article about alternative health in National Review.” And as for the PETA-types, “the crunchy vegan thing had its moment in history.” Bovine is back.
MASA’s consumers do not land neatly along the Left-to-Right political chart. The anti-seed-oil types “have been comfortably on the libertarian side the whole time,” Rofrano says. “But as the establishment moved from right to left, then it starts to look like they’re more on the right, which they’re not necessarily. They’re just libertarian. They just don’t want big money-making entities messing with their health.”
The tallow-laden, GMO-free, elegantly packaged chips don’t come cheap. These golden triangles are seven times more expensive than Tostitos. A four-pack of five-ounce bags goes for $52. It’s the price to pay for a product made in small batches with costly ingredients and with a limited shelf life. “Americans’ expectations for the price of food are unreasonable and are part of the reason why we have such crappy food,” Rofrano says. “In 1950, Americans spent 30 percent of their domestic disposable income on food. Nowadays, it’s about 11 percent.”
While the generally wealthy and health-conscious can indulge in MASA, it’s hard to imagine the mass production of packaged food that uses high-grade, grass-fed tallow instead of seed oils.
And animal fats don’t come without their own problems — they are still relatively high in saturated fats and contain natural trans fats, which the Mayo Clinic warns “can also be bad for health.” According to the Harvard School of Public Health, “canola oil is a safe and healthy form of fat that will reduce blood LDL cholesterol levels and heart disease risk compared to carbohydrates or saturated fats such as found in beef tallow or butter.”
The main risk posed by seed oils does not come from cooking with them in the home, or in the occasional trip to McDonald’s, but in excessive consumption of fried food where the oil is reused, and also in the overconsumption of ultra-processed foods from supermarkets.
It is important to remember that food processing is not evil. Rather, advances in the field have made shelf-stable, nutritious food items globally available. The combination of the Green Revolution and modern processing technology has saved billions of people from starvation.
Midwestern farmers have increasingly relied on market demand for seed oil. In 2024, the value of soybean exports alone approached $25 billion. Any major ban of seed oils would create an economic disaster overnight for American agriculture. And, as Aristotle said (more or less), “everything in moderation.” You just can’t make Grandma Norma’s pie crust without Crisco.
Ideally, as the health effects of seed oils are better studied and publicized, the invisible hand of the market will prize natural, healthier options.