How the West Imposed Seed Oils as “Healthy” and Tricked the World into Consuming Them

Introduction: The Biggest Nutrition Scam in History?

For centuries, people across the world relied on traditional fats like butter, ghee, coconut oil, and animal fats for cooking. These fats nourished generations with stable, nutrient-rich energy sources.

But in the last 100 years, a massive dietary shift took place—one that replaced these natural fats with highly processed, industrial seed oils like soybean, canola, and corn oil.

📌 How did this happen?
📌 Who pushed seed oils into our kitchens?
📌 Why was the world convinced that these oils were “healthy”?

This is the untold story of how Western industries and governments imposed seed oils on the rest of the world—and why it’s time to break free from this toxic legacy.

The Birth of Seed Oils: An Industrial Waste Product Turned “Food”

💡 Where do seed oils come from? They weren’t traditionally used in food. In fact, they started as industrial byproducts!

👉 In the 1800s, cottonseed oil was used for machine lubrication, soap, and candles—never as food.
👉 In the early 1900s, Procter & Gamble (P&G) discovered a way to hydrogenate cottonseed oil, turning it into Crisco (short for “crystallized cottonseed oil”).
👉 P&G marketed Crisco as a “modern alternative” to butter and lard—even though it was a highly processed, chemically altered fat.

📖 Reference: O’Connor, Anahad. “How the Industrial Revolution Changed the American Diet,” The New York Times, 2020.

Thus began the seed oil takeover—a product originally meant for factories and machines was now being sold as “heart-healthy” cooking oil.

The 1950s: The War Against Saturated Fats Begins 🚨

After World War II, heart disease rates were rising in the U.S. Scientists were searching for a cause, and one man changed the course of nutrition history forever—Dr. Ancel Keys.

🔴 Keys’ “Seven Countries Study” (1958) blamed saturated fat for heart disease—ignoring other factors like sugar, smoking, and industrial food processing.
🔴 The American Heart Association (AHA), funded by vegetable oil companies, adopted Keys’ flawed conclusions and recommended replacing animal fats with seed oils.
🔴 The U.S. government followed suit, pushing low-fat, high-seed-oil diets through dietary guidelines.

📖 Reference: Teicholz, Nina. “The Big Fat Surprise,” 2014.

This created the biggest dietary myth of the century—that saturated fats were “bad” and seed oils were “good”.

Who benefited?
✅ Big Agriculture (soybean, corn, and canola oil producers)
✅ Food manufacturers (cheap oil = higher profits)
✅ Pharmaceutical companies (rising chronic diseases = more medications sold)

And the rest of the world followed.

The Global Expansion: How the West Forced Seed Oils on the World

1️⃣ Western Dietary Guidelines Became Global Policy 🌎

In the 1970s, the U.S. government officially promoted a low-fat, high-seed-oil diet, influencing the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN).

Developing countries were encouraged to replace traditional fats like ghee, coconut oil, and palm oil with “modern” vegetable oils, claiming they were cheaper and healthier.

📖 Reference: Willett, W. C. “Dietary Fats and Coronary Heart Disease,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2001.

2️⃣ Big Corporations Flooded the Global Market 💰

Western agribusiness giants like Cargill, Monsanto, and Unilever aggressively expanded into Asia, Africa, and Latin America, selling:

🔹 Cheap, mass-produced soybean and canola oils
🔹 Ultra-processed foods loaded with seed oils
🔹 Government-backed nutritional propaganda

Western fast food chains like McDonald’s and KFC became symbols of progress and modernization, normalizing deep-fried foods in seed oils worldwide.

📖 Reference: Stuckler, D. “Big Food, Food Systems, and Global Health,” PLOS Medicine, 2012.

3️⃣ Demonizing Traditional Fats & Indigenous Diets 🥥❌

To push seed oils, Western nutritionists and health authorities attacked traditional fats, calling them “unhealthy” and “outdated.”

🔻 India: Ghee and coconut oil were replaced with “heart-healthy” soybean and sunflower oil.
🔻 Southeast Asia: Palm oil, rich in natural antioxidants, was demonized to boost canola oil sales.
🔻 Latin America: Lard and tallow were replaced with highly processed soybean oil.

The result? Rising obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in regions that once had minimal chronic illness.

📖 Reference: Mozaffarian, D. “The Global Nutrition Transition,” The Lancet, 2016.

The Aftermath: A World Addicted to Toxic Oils

🔥 Seed oils now make up over 30% of total calories in the average diet.
🔥 Global obesity rates have tripled since seed oils became the dominant fat.
🔥 Heart disease remains the leading cause of death—despite the shift to “heart-healthy” oils.

📖 Reference: DiNicolantonio et al., “Omega-6 Vegetable Oils as a Driver of Chronic Disease,” Open Heart, 2018.

Breaking Free: How to Take Back Control

If the West imposed seed oils on the world, it’s time to reject this failed experiment and return to traditional, nourishing fats.

✅ Ditch seed oils – Avoid soybean, canola, corn, sunflower, and grapeseed oil.
✅ Eat real, ancestral fats – Cook with ghee, butter, coconut oil, and cold-pressed olive oil.
✅ Avoid processed and fast foods – They are loaded with hidden seed oils.
✅ Spread awareness – Question outdated dietary guidelines and educate others.

🌱 Your health is in your hands. Let’s reclaim the wisdom of real food.

Scientific References for Further Reading:

1️⃣ Teicholz, Nina. The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat, and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, 2014. 📖 Read Here

2️⃣ O’Connor, Anahad. “How the Industrial Revolution Changed the American Diet,” The New York Times, 2020. 📖 Read Here

3️⃣ DiNicolantonio, J. J., & O’Keefe, J. H. “Omega-6 Vegetable Oils as a Driver of Chronic Disease,” Open Heart, 2018. 📖 Read Here

4️⃣ Mozaffarian, D. “The Global Nutrition Transition,” The Lancet, 2016. 📖 Read Here

Final Thought: The Power of Choice 🛑

The West imposed seed oils through corporate greed, bad science, and government influence. But we don’t have to accept this any longer.

🌿 Go back to real food.
🔥 Choose traditional fats.
💡 Educate yourself and others.

It’s time to undo the damage and reclaim our health. Who’s with us? 💪🚀