Got Arthritis?

By Kim Marquardt, RN MSN

This blog post is from the Nurse Kim archives of myth busting. I want to share some "alternative" or maybe just lesser known health and wellness viewpoints for you to chew on.

*These posts are not intended as official medical advice.

They ARE meant to be fun, informative, and thought provoking, hopefully sparking an interest for you to do your own research (you can start with the links I provide!) and discover the marvels of the human body, and how it can function at its optimal performance level if we understand how it works and interacts with our environment and our diet.

I have a passion for health and wellness through lifestyle and nutrition and have done thousands of hours of research in addition to being a registered nurse for 23 years. I have done A LOT of self-experimentation in and around diet, lifestyle, body care, and supplementation and have spent a lot of time looking into the science behind it all (or lack thereof!). Check back weekly for the latest post!

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Well well well, looks like I am not the only one harping on vegetable oils these days! The 75-year-old Arthritis Foundation has a few things to say about these ultra-processed, ultra-toxic, inflammatory compounds.

Turns out, “vegetable” oils (which have nothing to do with vegetables, hence the quotes), make arthritis worse. Big surprise.  

While the Arthritis Foundation loses points for unfortunately still touting the “limit your saturated fat intake to less than 10% of your calories” USDA recommendation, which is anti-science per a state of the art evidence review by some little ole peeps over at the AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY, they at least understand the dangers, and inflammatory nature of linoleic acid.

Terminology

This is probably a good time to go over all the names for vegetable oils, so we are all clear:

vegetable oils = seed oils (what they are really made from) = Omega-6 = PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) = linoleic acid

All these terms are essentially synonymous. There are other foods that contain Omega-6 PUFAs/linoleic acid besides vegetable oils like poultry, pork, and nuts, but vegetable oils in particular, and their presence in every processed food product, are the reason that Americans are consuming a 30:1 ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 creating a shoot ton of inflammation in the body (since Omega-6 is the compound responsible for inflammation).

Omega-6 vs. Omega-3

You see Omega-6 and Omega-3 compete for the same receptor sites, so you can eat all the delicious fatty fish and take all the Omega-3 supplements in the world, but if you are consuming gallons of vegetable oil (as most Americans are, getting a whopping 80% of their fat calories from), your Omega-3 doesn’t stand a chance.

Studies have shown that the best way to confer some of the anti-inflammatory affects of Omega-3 touted by experts (which is also controversial since Omega-3 has not born out in studies to improve cardiovascular outcomes or extend lifespan) is to greatly reduce your Omega-6 consumption, not necessarily to supplement Omega-3. 

But back to our friends at the Arthritis Foundation. Here’s what they have to say about vegetable oils:

Polyunsaturated oils contain two types of essential fatty acids (ones the body can’t produce itself): omega-3s and omega-6s. Omega-3s are found in oily fish, flaxseeds and walnuts and are known to be anti-inflammatory. Omega-6s are found in oils such as corn, safflower, sunflower, soy and vegetable and products made with those oils. Excess consumption of omega-6s can trigger the body to produce pro-inflammatory chemicals, and the American diet tends to be very high in omega-6s.

I’m amused how they are trying to state it lightly. Their final sentence is: They aren’t especially bad and shouldn’t be avoided, but you don’t want them to dominate your intake.

Wait… didn’t you just say: Excess consumption of omega-6s can trigger the body to produce pro-inflammatory chemicals, and the American diet tends to be very high in omega-6s.

What’d I miss?

It drives me absolutely BONKERS when organizations try to tap dance around something because they don’t want the medical and government institutions touting the AMAZING HEALTH BENEFITS of "vegetable" oils to get mad at them.

Unfortunately, the government is having a little bit of a hard time walking back 50 years of bad dietary advice not supported by science. Might also have something to do with the fact that they subsidize the processed food industry. BUT WHATEVER…

Got arthritis, sore joints, or just feel like crap? Great news…

Focus your diet on one ingredient whole foods, the ones that don’t require a label, you know, like beef, butter, chicken, broccoli, apples, potatoes, tomatoes, milk, cheese, grapes… you get the idea.

Oh and great news, canned foods are included! These are cheap and convenient and usually just what’s on the label (just glance at it first and make sure they didn’t sneak any “vegetable” oils in there!).

Until next week ya’ll!