Linked to soaring rates of most chronic diseases including high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and macular degeneration—this doctor believes it’s a global human experiment that’s driving chronic degenerative disease levels in modern society.
STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- Ophthalmologist Dr. Chris Knobbe says most chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and macular degeneration are linked to the consumption of processed seed oils.
- Knobbe says the large consumption of omega-6 seed oil in everyday Western diets is so dangerous it is “a global human experiment ... without informed consent.”
- Polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils, trans fat, and plant oils, owe their existence to “roller mill technology,” which replaced stone mill technology and removed their nutrients.
- Many people now consume 80 grams of PUFAs a day, which amounts to 720 calories and one-third of their caloric intake.
- Results from studies of tribal peoples and animals have demonstrated the deleterious effects of PUFAs in the diet.
In a recent speech at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, titled “Diseases of Civilization: Are Seed Oil Excesses the Unifying Mechanism?,” Dr. Chris Knobbe reveals startling evidence that seed oils, so prevalent in modern diets, are the reason for most of today’s chronic diseases.[1]
Knobbe, an ophthalmologist, is the founder of the nonprofit Cure AMD Foundation, dedicated to the prevention of vision loss from age-related macular degeneration (AMD).[2] He is a former associate clinical professor emeritus of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.[3]
The Rise of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFAs)
Trans fats and polyunsaturated fatty acids, also called PUFAs, found in vegetable oils, edible oils, seed oils, and plant oils, are a fairly recent invention and include cottonseed, rapeseed, sunflower, safflower, rice bran, soybean, corn, and other popular oils. PUFAs owe their existence to “roller mill technology,” which around 1880 replaced stone mill technology that was used to grind wheat into flour.[4]“The first of these [PUFAs] was cottonseed oil. This was soon followed by the hydrogenation and partial hydrogenation of cottonseed oil, producing the first ever artificially created trans-fat. The latter was introduced by Proctor & Gamble in 1911 under the name ‘Crisco,’ which was marketed as ’the healthier alternative to lard ... and more economical than butter.'”Crisco, the grandfather of commercially produced PUFAs or trans fats, is still widely sold today. The plan of vegetable oil producers, says Knobbe, was to undersell and therefore replace animal fats, which were priced higher.[7] The plan was successful.
PUFAs became so popular that they now make up 63 percent of the American diet, form the basis of USDA [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] food recommendations and are found in 600,000 processed foods sold in the United States today.[8] In 1909, Americans ate 2 grams a day of vegetable oil, says Knobbe, and by 2010 they were eating an astounding 80 grams of vegetable oil a day.[9]
Chronic Diseases Rose With PUFAs
Many people are aware that diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, metabolic syndrome, and other conditions were less common in the first part of the 20th century than they are today. But the rise in the incidence of these conditions is more dramatic than many realize. According to Knobbe:[11]- In 1900, 12.5 percent of the U.S. population died of heart-related disease—in 2010, that figure was 32 percent.
- In 1811, 1 person in 118 died of cancer—in 2010, 1 in 3 died of cancer.
- In 80 years, the incidence of Type 2 diabetes has increased 25-fold.
- In the 19th century, 1.2 percent of Americans were obese—in 2015, 39.8 percent were obese.
- In 1930, there were no more than 50 cases of macular degeneration—in 2020, there were 19.6 million cases.
“These disorders from heart disease to atherosclerosis to Type-2 diabetes to macular degeneration and cancer all have the same thing. They all have mitochondrial dysfunction ... The very first thing that happens when the electron transport chain fails ... is that it starts shooting out reactive oxygen species—these are hydroxyl radicals and superoxide ...
“Most of this linoleic acid, when it oxidizes, it develops lipid hydroperoxides and then these rapidly degenerate into ... oxidized linoleic acid metabolites,” says Knobbe.[13]
PUFAs Create Insulin Resistance
Diabetes, insulin resistance, and metabolic syndrome have become epidemic since the U.S. diet has been based on PUFAs. It is estimated that nearly 70 percent of Americans are now overweight or obese and a substantial amount are metabolically unhealthy.[14]“When you consume omega-6 to excess ... it combines with reactive oxygen species like hydroxyl radicals ... so this begins catastrophic lipid peroxidation cascade—these polyunsaturated fats are accumulating [in] your cells, accumulate in your membranes, accumulate in your mitochondria, and they cause a peroxidation reaction.”Because there are so many reactive oxygen species it leads to developing insulin resistance at the cellular level and the production of lipid droplets in your liver, continues Knobbe:
“... that creates a catastrophic lipid part or it feeds back to the lipid peroxidation ... so now you’re not burning fat for fuel properly so the person gaining weight and getting sick in this regard is now carb dependent—their glycolysis is working but ... [they] start storing the fat ... so this leads to obesity.”Linoleic acid is especially a culprit in this harmful process, agrees Dr. Paul Saladino, a physician journalist, in a podcast. Linoleic acid “breaks the sensitivity for insulin at the level of your fat cells”—it makes them more insulin sensitive—and, since your fat cells control the insulin sensitivity of the rest of your body by releasing free fatty acids, you end up with insulin resistance.
Rat Studies and Indigenous People Show PUFA Harm
Animal studies have dramatically demonstrated the deleterious effects of PUFAs. In one study Knobbe cites, two sets of rats were put on identical diets except one group received 5 percent cottonseed oil and the other received 1.5 percent butterfat.[16] The result of the study was that:[17]“... the rats on the cottonseed oil grew to sixty percent of normal size and live[d] 555 days on average; they’re weak, fragile, sickly little rats. The rats on the butterfat are healthy—they grow to normal size and they live 1020 days so they grow to almost twice the size [of the cottonseed oil-fed rats], live twice as long, and are infinitely more healthy.”While it’s suggested that the American Heart Association and other medical groups might discount such studies, potentially calling them paradoxical, there are also examples of the positive effects of saturated and animal-based fats upon human health, says Knobbe.
For example, the Tokelau people who live on islands in the South Pacific between Hawaii and Australia eat a diet almost exclusively of coconut, fish, starchy tubers, and fruit.[18] Between 54 percent and 62 percent of their calories come from coconut oil, which contains saturated fat, Knobbe points out.
Nevertheless, a study of Tokelau men between 40 and 69 years found that they had no heart attacks, no obesity, and no diabetes.[19] They were “fantastically healthy,” says Knobbe.
Other Experts Agree With Knobbe
In a previous newsletter with the Saldino podcast mentioned above, I discussed how Saladino and journalist Nina Teicholz decry the popularity and ubiquity of PUFAs in the modern food system and believe in the healthful benefits of saturated fat.In the podcast, Saladino and Teicholz review the history of the demonization of saturated fat and cholesterol, which began, they say, with the flawed hypothesis in 1960 to 1961 that saturated fat causes heart disease.
The hypothesis was buttressed by the first Dietary Guidelines for Americans, introduced in 1980, which told people to limit their saturated fat and cholesterol, all the while exonerating carbs, which were increasingly made with PUFAs. It should be no surprise that the hypothesis and dietary guidelines were linked to a rapid rise in obesity and chronic diseases such as heart disease.
In the podcast, Saladino and Teicholz discuss the reasons why this myth has been allowed to persist, despite the scientific evidence against it.
Like Knobbe, the experts are convinced that the massive increase in linoleic acid consumption, because of its ubiquity in industrial vegetable oils and processed foods, is a key metabolic driver of obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other chronic diseases.
They stress that the belief that high low-density lipoproteins (LDL)— the so-called “bad” cholesterol—are a risk factor for heart disease and that by lowering your LDL you lower your risk of a heart attack, is incorrect. The science simply doesn’t bear this out, they say. The reason for this is because not all LDL particles are the same.
Cutting down on red meat and saturated fat and eating more vegetable oil may cause LDL to go down, Saladino explains, but those LDLs will not be oxidized. It is the effect of LDL oxidation that triggers insulin resistance and related problems, including heart disease—something the LDL tests don’t detect.
Eating saturated fat, on the other hand, may raise your LDL, but those LDL particles will be large and fluffy and do not cause arterial damage, says Saladino.
The take-home message from both doctors Knobbe and Saladino is that seed oils are responsible for the vast majority of modern diseases and the best thing you can do for your health is renounce them.