Study finds soy oil replacement for PHOs may cause liver problems

Run, don’t walk, to your kitchen and toss out this oil!

Here’s some news that should change the way you eat.

It’s coming out of a study that was designed to look at various oils and how they may contribute to obesity.

But what this research uncovered may very well be the smoking gun as to why diseases like diabetes and other metabolic imbalances have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S.

And it may have also uncovered why animal fats such as lard — once a kitchen staple — have been given such a bad rap.

The ‘trans fat challenge’

The entire biotech industry, including soybean growers across the land, can’t be very happy right now.

A team of researchers from the University of California just published a report that dares to disclose the truth behind soy oil, the fat that groups such as the American Heart Association say we must use in order to prevent heart disease.

They also revealed how some (gasp!) saturated fats — which those same groups have demonized for decades — are actually safe and perfectly beneficial to our health.

But first, let me tell you about a little industry secret you probably wouldn’t know unless you’re in the food business.

For years, DuPont and partner Perdue AgriBusiness (yep, that’s the same Perdue you’ll see on those chicken packages) have been developing a special genetically modified soybean with the strange-sounding name of Plenish.

And how is Plenish different from other soybean oils? DuPont calls it an answer to the “trans fat challenge” — which means it’s intended to be the food industry’s replacement for those heart-attack causing partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), a.k.a. trans fats, that are being phased out next June.

Now, it seems that foods made with Plenish can gather dust on store shelves for years, just like ones made with PHOs, and still seem “fresh.” And DuPont says it has a “healthier oil profile,” but that’s not exactly what these researchers found.

In fact, it was pretty much just the opposite.

Mice fed the Plenish oil suffered from enlarged livers and “liver dysfunction,” including an increasingly common and potentially deadly condition called fatty liver disease.

The researchers also pointed out that the rise in obesity practically goes hand-in-hand with our increased use of soybean oil in general (nearly all of which is genetically modified).

But that’s not all.

They also observed that the “detrimental effects” seen in lab rodents when fed animal fats might not be coming from the fat itself, but instead be the result of soy!

Now how’s that for a plot twist?!

You see, most obesity researchers feed their lab animals lard, which in turn comes from animals fed soybean meal. “It’s possible,” they proposed, that many of those “metabolic effects” we thought were the fault of saturated animal fats are instead due to huge amounts of soy fed cows, pigs, and chickens.

And if you’re wondering what these researchers found to be the healthiest oil that they tested, that’s an even bigger surprise.

It’s none other than coconut oil, which consists of about 90 percent of those forbidden saturated fats!

In this new study, coconut oil’s benefits outshined even those of olive oil: It caused the least amount of weight gain and the “fewest negative metabolic effects.”

And if you’re worried about cholesterol, the amount you’re adding to your diet with coconut oil is no more than what you’d get with soybean oil, the darling of the AHA, or even that supposedly healthier version, Plenish.

So, the two main takeaways from this study are:

#1: Stay away from all soybean oil, even if it’s said to be healthier. And since it’s something that’s hard to dodge in processed foods, be sure to check your labels carefully.

#2: Get yourself a big jar of organic virgin coconut oil and use it in everything from sautés to stir-fries to homemade popcorn!

“GM soybean oil causes less obesity and insulin resistance but is harmful to liver function” University of California – Riverside, October 2, 2017, ScienceDaily, sciencedaily.com