(NaturalHealth365) You already know fried foods are not great for your health – something both intuition and research supports.  But surprising new research published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research has discovered that it’s possible to make vegetable oil even more toxic – and in fact, carcinogenic. 

The paper’s authors made a startling discovery in their study: consuming reheated vegetable oil triggered cancer cell growth in animals.  And, let’s not forget that we (humans) are animals too.  So, we should not ignore these results.

Restaurants often reheat their vegetable oil for fried foods and the results are unbelievably devastating

The paper in question, published in the March 2019 volume of Cancer Prevention Research, is titled, “Thermally Abused Frying Oil Potentiates Metastasis to Lung in a Murine Model of Late-Stage Breast Cancer.”

In it, the authors gave a group of mice a low-fat diet for one week. Following this week-long introductory period, the authors fed some mice fresh and unheated soybean oil while the rest of the mice got reheated soybean oil.

Note: Not only is it industry standard for restaurants to deep fry food in soybean oil and other vegetable oils, but it’s also standard practice to reuse this oil again and again.

The authors specifically found that “consumption [of reheated cooking oil] resulted in a marked increase of metastatic lung tumor formation compared to [fresh soybean oil] consumption.”  They were specifically looking at metastatic breast cancer, which they were able to do by injecting breast cancer cells into a tibia of every mouse in their sample and then seeing how the reheated cooking oil affected cancer cell growth.

What’s the mechanism of harm here? As it turns out, reheating vegetable oil releases large amounts of an accumulated toxin called acrolein – which has been scientifically associated with neurological disorders and heart disease.

For better health, find healthier fats that are great for the body and your taste buds

As many as 1 in 8 women in America will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.  Could the preponderance of “thermally abused frying oil” be part of the high prevalence? It’s extremely likely.

So, should we avoid cooking oil altogether to cut cancer risk?

Not necessarily. You’re better off simply avoiding the more harmful soybean and vegetable oils.

Even when not reheated, these oils are still problematic because they’re high in a type of fatty acid called omega-6.  Consuming too much of this fatty acid is associated with multiple health problems, including an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

Better oils to use at home that have high cooking temperatures, great flavor, and a healthier nutritional profile include toasted sesame oil, ghee (clarified butter), coconut oil and avocado oil.

Sources for this article include:

MedicineNet.com
MedicalNewsToday.com
CancerPreventionResearch.org
Health.gov
Healthline.com