The Good, the Bad and the Oily

Olive Oil—Godsend or Demon Seed?

What oils are truly healthy? I began to wonder that when someone on Facebook felt that they had debunked rumors that canola oil is unhealthy. Some sources say it is; some say it isn’t. How do you know who to believe?

So I explored a number of different sources to see what makes a healthy oil or fat and what doesn’t. Those sources included the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Oz of television fame, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com, internationally known nutritionist Dr. Joel Fuhrman, raw-food guru Gabriel Cousens and a miscellaneous author from the U.K. because I'm an anglophile. Below, I present my confusing results.

First, some vocabulary words to know:
Monounsaturated fats=usually associated with good cardio health, but a small number of nutritionists dispute this
Polyunsaturated fats=also called essential fatty acids, these include the omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids which are good for you only if eaten in the right ratio
Saturated fats=generally seen as a bad fat
Trans fats=processed fats that are bad for you
Hydrogenated oils=a source of trans fats, these processed oils are bad for you

Okay, now you’re ready to explore The Good, the Bad and the Oily:

Our Government—Bastion of All Official Knowledge
Let’s begin with the USDA Dietary Guidelines. You may recall that these guidelines have been revised several times in recent years due to gross inaccuracies attributed to lobbyists in the beef and dairy industries.

According to the USDA, “Oils are fats that are liquid at room temperature, like the vegetable oils used in cooking. Oils come from many different plants and from fish. Oils are NOT a food group, but they provide essential nutrients.”

Interestingly, the USDA points out that coconut oil, palm oil and palm kernel oil—which have been widely lauded for their positive health effects—are high in saturated fats and for nutritional purposes should be considered to be solid fats. The agency defines solid fats as “fats that are solid at room temperature, like butter and shortening.” Solid fats come from animal foods and can be made from vegetable oils through a process called hydrogenation. A USDA list of solid fats includes:

• Butter, milk fat, cream
• Pork (lard), beef (tallow, suet) and chicken fat
• Stick margarine, shortening
• Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils
• Coconut oil, palm and palm kernal oils

The USDA advises consumers that saturated fats and trans fats tend to raise "bad" (LDL) cholesterol levels in the blood, which increases the risk for heart disease. To lower risk, the agency advises cutting back on foods containing saturated fats and trans fats. The foods to cut down on (with apologies to Paula Deen) include:

• Many desserts and baked goods, such as cakes, cookies, donuts, pastries and croissants
• Many cheeses and foods containing cheese, such as pizza
• Sausages, hot dogs, bacon and ribs
• Ice cream and other dairy desserts
• Fried potatoes (French fries) - if fried in a solid fat or hydrogenated oil
• Regular ground beef and cuts of meat with marbling or visible fat
• Fried chicken and other chicken dishes with the skin

Good-bye, comfort food.

Having started with the USDA, let’s see what other well-regarded health sources have to say. We’ll begin with a pop culture health authority, Dr. Mehment Oz.

Into the Land of Oz
Dr. Oz is a fairly popular television health guru. He says that in order to protect your heart and lose weight, cook with canola oil. He says canola oil is the best oil to use for cooking, bar none.

He also touts rice bran oil as a “miracle” oil for cooking. (Sorry, I missed the episode on why.) He says that things labeled “vegetable oil” are no good to eat. He recommends macadamia nut oil for baking, toasted sesame oil for stir fries and walnut oil (which cannot be heated because it is fragile) for salad dressings or as a substitute for butter.

Going Ivy League
Now let’s go to The Harvard School of Public Health. It posted an article about healthy versus unhealthy oils on its site. Here’s what they had to say. “Olive, canola and other plant-based oils are rich in heart-healthy unsaturated fats.” Eat them. Trans fats and hydrogenated oils are bad; don't eat them.

Eat fatty fish (such as salmon and tuna), walnuts and canola oil because they all provide omega-3 fatty acids, essential fats that our bodies cannot make. Cut back on red meat (beef, pork, lamb), cheese, milk and ice cream. They are high in saturated fat. Instead, choose fish, chicken, nuts or beans.

Saddling Up with the Health Ranger
Then there’s Mike Adams, aka, the Health Ranger, an Internet health columnist with a substantial following who puts out a newsletter on naturalnews.com. Adams says that healthy “good fats” include omega-3 fatty acids, fish oils and monounsaturated fats. He says these fats are found in oily fish, nuts, seeds and avocados. He advises his readers to “give up cheap fats such as the low-cost vegetable oils found in the grocery store, and move to the more expensive fats, such as cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil.” The most important oils to avoid, he cautions, are hydrogenated oils because “hydrogenated oils are the number-one cause of heart disease and a major contributor to neurological disorders in the United States and around the world.”

What is his opinion on canola oil? Adams says “In addition to the plant having an unpredictable genetically modified (GMO) element, the oil is heated to over 300 degrees as part of a process to remove its extremely unpleasant odor. Processing vegetable oils may include degumming, batch acidulation, bleaching, deodorization, chemical extraction methods using solvents and high-temperature expeller pressing.” He adds that canola oil is monounsaturated, making it easy to promote as a similar but cheaper alternative to olive oil. “But real olive oil is not processed and doesn't contain toxic trans-fatty acids or GMOs. Canola is among the lowest of all oils with essential fatty acids, which happens to be the main health aspect of oils.”

Independent tests, he says, found some problems with canola oil. In one, piglets were fed a formula using canola oil. Their vitamin E was reduced to dangerous levels, resulting in sticky blood platelets that impeded blood flow. “Other tests have determined various imbalances with micronutrients,” Adams says. He believes that a healthier choice in oils would be cold pressed hemp, flax or olive oil.

Urban Legends
Someone pointed out to me that the trash talk about canola oil was debunked on http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcanola3.htm. So I visited there to see what the site had to say. There were no statements from doctors, dietitians or food scientists. The source they used to back their debunking was a financial and agribusiness writer. But let’s hear what he had to say.

According to the author: “It is true that canola oil is made from the seeds of rapeseed plants… but not all rapeseed plants grown for this purpose have been genetically engineered. In fact, according to D'Arce McMillan's Market Watch (business and financial website) article on the Western Producer Website (a website dedicated to reporting on Canadian agribusiness), currently only about half of them have been genetically altered….” The rest, apparently, were naturally hybridized through traditional methods. Aha! Only 50 percent of canola oil products on the market have been altered genetically! Wait, is that reassuring?

As for the rat study (wait, our study was with piglets, not rats…) the site says “the natural diet of a rat is made up of grains, raw fruits and vegetables and is very low in fatty acids. Introduce a load of heavier fats into a critter's diet and sure all sorts of health problems might develop.” Apparently, follow-up studies found that cooking oils other than canola (specifically, sunflower seed oil) produced the same results in laboratory rats. Okay, but what about the piglet study?

The Nutritarian Approach
What does medical doctor and nutritional guru Dr. Joel Fuhrman have to say? He believes that all diets are made of macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates and proteins) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals). He says that popular diets try to balance fat, carbohydrates and proteins, when in fact, we need less of all of those and more micronutrients.

That said, he points out that a diet has to have some fat and the amount of fat varies per person depending on their genetic makeup and current state of health. He believes that the most important source of healthy oils is nuts and seeds, not animals or vegetables. He considers all animal fats, trans fats and refined oils (including canola oil) “dangerous fats.”

Even the sacred cow of olive oil is not good for your heart, according to Dr. Fuhrman, and is just as bad as most other fats that people eat. He says that 15 studies have shown that olive oil is not cardioprotective. “We have to eat less fat, but the fat we eat has to be high-nutrient fat,” he says. Sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and flax seeds have a high level of nutrients.

Going Raw
Another viewpoint comes from Gabriel Cousens, a raw-food guru who runs the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona. He believes that a healthy diet is devoid of processed foods, which presumedly would include processed oils—canola, olive, you name it. Instead, he promotes an organic vegan diet consisting of vegetables, fruits, mature seeds, nuts, grains, beans, legumes, sea vegetables and algaes.

Foods should never be heated above 105 degrees so that all of their enzymes, vitamins and minerals are left intact, for use by the body. He does have an article on his website that touts coconut and palm kernel oils as healthy oils according to ancient Ayurvedic medicine. I assume these oils would need to be unprocessed versions to fit in with his dietary visions.

Advice from Across the Pond
When all else fails, consult the British. If for no other reason than: they seem so dignified. The Daily Mail in the U.K. carried an article about oils. Here is what author Mandy Francis had to say:

“Yet another piece of research has confirmed the benefits of omega 3 oils. As well as lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke, increasing concentration and helping those suffering from inflammatory conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, they may also help prevent Alzheimer's, according to a new American study.” Wait, why isn't she citing a British study? Ah well.

She adds that not all omegas appear to be quite as healthy to eat when it comes to dementia. Researchers found that “overdosing” on oils rich in omega 6, such as sunflower oil, could have the reverse effect, possibly doubling the risk of developing dementia.

Apparently, most people tend to eat too high a proportion of omega 6 polyunsaturates (found in many vegetable oils, chicken and processed foods) and not enough omega 3 polyunsaturates (found in oily fish, some nuts, seeds and a select few vegetable oils). The general advice is that fats and oils should make up no more than about 33 per cent of our daily calorie intake. That comes to roughly seven tablespoons for a man, five for a woman.

Here’s how the author reviewed the pros and cons of commonly used oils.

So what have we learned here today? Here’s what most sources agree upon:

Negative stuff

• Don’t eat anything labeled “vegetable oil”
• Don’t eat hydrogenated oils or trans fats
• Processed foods contain too much fat, so avoid them
• Avoid overloading on Omega 6 oils; we don’t eat enough Omega 3 oils and we should
• Avoid too much fat or oil, in general—even the good stuff

Positive stuff

• Seeds, nuts and avocados are good for you
• Raw or lightly cooked fruits and vegetables are good for you

Confusing stuff

• Olive oil is good for you according to the USDA, the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Oz, the Health Ranger and the writer from the U.K.; it’s bad for you according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Gabriel Cousens
• Canola oil is safe according to the USDA, the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Oz and the writer from the U.K.; it’s dangerous according to the Health Ranger, Dr. Joel Fuhrman and Gabriel Cousens
• Urban Legends says it disproved negative rat studies about canola oil, but what about the negative piglet studies? Pigs are closer in metabolism to humans than rats, aren’t they?
• Why does Dr. Oz call rice bran oil a “miracle oil”?
• Why can’t everyone agree on what’s good to eat?

Final Distracted Thoughts
Well, there you have it. Eat seeds, nuts and avocados, but not too many. Use olive and canola oils at your own risk. Avoid any fat that becomes solid at room temperature. Other than that, I got nothin'. Bon appétit.

Beware, the Fries of April

If you are not a millionaire or billionaire, there is no escaping taxes. In celebration of the upcoming Ides of April, I am highlighting the history of taxes in Western Civilization. If nothing else, it gives us a clear idea of whom to blame. Special thanks to the Tax Analysis group, whose website I drew upon as a source for this fascinating history of legalized robbery.

Egyptian kitchens were the scene of the earliest recorded taxes.

• Earliest records trace taxes to Egypt. During one period, the Pharaohs imposed taxes on cooking oil. To make sure citizens were not skimping on taxable cuisine, tax collectors audited households to make sure the appropriate amounts of cooking oil were being consumed and that families were not using leftovers from other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.
• Much like today, the ancient Athenians in Greece used taxes to fund wars. No one was exempt from the tax, which was used to underwrite special wartime expenditures. However, unlike our government today, when the war was over, the tax was rescinded and the plunder gained from the war effort was used to refund the taxes that had been paid. Nice.
• Roman ruler Caesar Augustus (63 BC-19 AD) was considered a shrewd tax strategist. During his reign, he eliminated national tax collectors and placed responsibility for tax collections on local officials in each city. He instituted an inheritance tax to provide retirement funds for the military, which was 5 percent on all inheritances except gifts to children and spouses. The English and Dutch later used this as a basis for developing their own inheritance taxes. 
• During the time of Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC) , a 1 percent sales tax was imposed. Augustus expanded on this a bit. There was a 4 percent sales tax on slaves and 1 percent on everything else. I guess you might consider the former an early example of luxury tax.
• One of the earliest tax revolts on record comes from 60 AD. Boadicea, Queen of East Anglia, in what is now Britain, led a revolt against Rome which some say was due to corrupt tax collectors. When she was finished, her legion of 230,000 angry taxpayers had killed all Roman soldiers within 100 miles and seized London. It is said that more than 80,000 people were killed during that uprising. Sadly, Emperor Nero eventually crushed this citizens’ movement and the Queen felt compelled to commit suicide.
• Boadicea was not the last woman to lead a tax revolt in Britain. In the 11th Century in England, Lady Godiva, of chocolate fame, was an Anglo-Saxon woman married to Leofric, Earl of Mercia. Leofric was taxing the bejesus out of the citizens of Coventry. When Lady Godiva objected, he sneeringly replied that he would lower the high taxes he had levied on local residents when she rode naked through the streets of town. This may be the earliest record of a couple playing Truth or Dare. Lady Godiva chose the latter. This resulted in a double bonus for taxpayers.
• The 100 Years War (conflict between England and France) began in 1337 and ended in 1453. One of the key irritants that renewed fighting in 1369 was the oppressive tax policies of Edward, the Black Prince, over the nobles of Aquitaine. Aquitaine was British until the end of that war, when it was annexed to France. (No one knows why Edward was named the Black Prince, a name that sprang up after he died.)
• During the 14th Century, Britain dabbled with progressive taxes. In 1377, the Duke of Lancaster paid 520 times the tax of a common peasant. Those were the good old days. The earliest income taxes were imposed on the wealthy, office holders and the clergy. A tax on movable property was imposed on merchants. The poor paid little or no taxes.
• Any British history buff knows that Charles I was charged with treason and lost his head. What many people may not know was these charges came about based on a disagreement in 1629 about the rights of taxation. Charles thought the king had the rights of taxation. Parliament felt it had the rights of taxation. Charles lost the argument. Somehow I can't imagine it mattered much to the average person, who was going to get taxed either way.
• In 1643, Britain’s Parliament levied taxes to fund Oliver Cromwell’s army. These taxes made the late and headless Charles I look generous in comparison. Essential commodities such as grain and meat were taxed with a devastating effect on the poor. Rural laborers were taxed so much that they couldn’t afford to buy food for their families who were now starving. At the same time, the common lands were enclosed and peasants were banned from hunting there. Angry citizens responded with the Smithfield riots of 1647, and the legend of Robin Hood was born.
• American Colonists had their first taste of taxes with the Molasses Act, which was later expanded in 1764 to the Sugar Act because it now included duties on foreign molasses, sugar, wine and other commodities. Apparently, this did not raise the money Britain had expected, so they imposed the Stamp Act in 1765. This taxed all newspapers printed in the colonies and most commercial and legal documents. All of these taxes resulted in an agitated populace. They dumped tea in Boston harbor and decided to form their own country.
• Taxes, however, did not end with the birth of the United States of America. In 1794, settlers west of the Alleghanies, in opposition to Alexander Hamilton’s excise tax of 1791, started the Whiskey Rebellion, and rioted against the tax collectors. President Washington eventually sent troops to quell the riots. Two settlers were convicted of treason, but Washington granted them both a pardon.
• Now for the origin of Freedom Fries. (Well, not really.) In 1798, Congress passed the Federal Property Tax to fund the expansion of the army and navy in case the U.S. went to war with France. John Fries began the Fries Rebellion to voice his opposition to this tax. No one was hurt during this revolt, but Fries was arrested for treason. Eventually, he was pardoned by President Adams in 1800. In a twist of irony, Fries had been the leader of the militia unit called upon to quell the Whiskey Rebellion.
• The first suggestion of an income tax came during the War of 1812. The proposed tax was based on the British Tax Act of 1798 and applied progressive rates to income. The rates were .08 percent on income for the average person and 10 percent on income for the well-to-do. However, the tax was never imposed because the Treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815, eliminating the need for additional revenue.
• During the Civil War, President Lincoln passed the Tax Act of 1862 to help fund that war. The rates were 3 percent on income above $600 and 5 percent on income above $10,000. The Commissioner of Revenue stated "The people of this country have accepted it with cheerfulness, to meet a temporary exigency, and it has excited no serious complaint in its administration." While the populace may have been cheerful about it, compliance was not high. Only 276,661 people filed tax returns out of a population of approximately 38 million. Additional taxes were passed with the “recognition of the idea that taxes shall be paid according to the abilities of a person to pay," according to Senator Garret Davis.
• When the Civil War ended, the public suddenly became less cheerful about the concept of taxes. Several attempts were made to make the taxes permanent, but by 1869 even the New York Times was coming out against it, writing that “no businessman could pass the day without suffering from those burdens.” Finally, in 1872, federal income tax was repealed and significant tariff restrictions took its place, serving as a major source of revenue for the federal government until 1913.
• Interestingly, in the 1860s, federal income tax was challenged in court. The Supreme Court unanimously supported the tax. After the war, however, the tax was declared unconstitutional by the same court because it represented direct taxation on the citizenry which was not allowed under the Constitution.
• In 1913, the Constitution was modified. The 16th Amendment was passed, which allowed Congress authority to tax the citizenry on income. I bet you never learned about that in school.
• During the Depression, in the 1930s, individual federal income taxes were kept to no more than 1.4 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP). Corporate taxes were never more than 1.6 percent of the GNP. (GNP is a measure of a country's economic performance, or what its citizens have produced, i.e. goods and services, within its borders.) In the 1930s, corporations took the brunt of the tax burden; this changed. In 1990, those same taxes as a percent of the GNP were 8.77 percent for citizens and 1.99 percent for businesses. 

So there you have it. It all began with cooking oil in Egypt. Then it crossed to the Mediterranean to Greece and Rome, went up into Europe and across to the New World, aka, these United States. I can't help but wonder, though... would things have turned out differently if only the ancient Egyptians had learned to steam their food?