Apr 4 • 🥑 Nutrition
Tracked my seed oil intake for a week and the numbers were wild
Did a little experiment last week — read every label in my kitchen and estimated how much omega-6 from seed oils I was actually consuming.
The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 in a typical Western diet is around 15:1 to 20:1. Evolutionary estimates put humans closer to 4:1. That gap matters because omega-6 fatty acids (concentrated in soybean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil) feed pro-inflammatory pathways, while omega-3s (fatty fish, flaxseed, walnuts) feed anti-inflammatory ones.
Here’s what surprised me most — it wasn’t the obvious stuff. The cooking oils were easy to spot. What got me was the hidden sources:
- Salad dressings (soybean oil is ingredient #2 in most brands) - "Healthy" granola bars (sunflower oil) - Restaurant food (almost everything is cooked in seed oils) - Bread (yes, even bread often contains soybean oil)
A 2019 study in the European Journal of Nutrition found that every 10% increase in ultra-processed food consumption was associated with a 12% increase in C-reactive protein — the main blood marker for systemic inflammation. And seed oils are in virtually every ultra-processed food.
The fix wasn’t dramatic. Three changes made the biggest difference:
1. Switched to extra-virgin olive oil for cooking at home (EVOO contains oleocanthal, which inhibits the same inflammatory enzymes as ibuprofen) 2. Added fatty fish twice a week (salmon, sardines — 2-4g combined EPA+DHA daily is the clinical range for measurable CRP reduction) 3. Started checking labels for soybean/corn/sunflower oil and swapping to alternatives
I’m not saying seed oils are poison. Omega-6 fats are essential — you need them. The problem is the extreme imbalance when they’re in everything you eat without you realizing it.
Has anyone else done a label audit like this? Curious what surprised you most.
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Tracked my seed oil intake for a week and the numbers were wild
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