The "Great Debate" over corn oil continues and now it even involves livestock. While some experts claim that corn oil is beneficial to your health, others say that it might be a major factor in cancer and other diseases. One reason is the high level of Omega 6 fatty acids contained in the oil. The Omega 6 fatty acids are what brought livestock into the picture, too. If you eat meat from a pig that munched on corn, it had a higher amount of Omega 6 fatty acid than pigs consuming sugar and soybean meal.
One reason for the confusion is that the Food and Drug Administration allows corn oil producers to use a qualified health claim on their product. Qualified health claims, unlike unqualified ones that require backing with scientific studies, can show some type of link to being beneficial even if it's just one study.
Because of the low unsaturated fat levels in corn oil, the FDA allows the manufacturers to claim that corn oil might reduce the risk of heart disease. In this case, there is little evidence that statement is true, but the key is in the word "might." There is no proof, but there are studies that link the intake of unsaturated fats as opposed to saturated fats to a lower incidence of heart disease. However, no study proves it or proves that corn oil is the right way to lower your risk of heart disease. The government highly scrutinizes the herbal "food supplement" market and looks for false claims, it's confusing that this type of information is allowed in marketing to the public.
While it is true that using unsaturated fat can improve your health there are other considerations besides the amount of unsaturated fat, which make some oils better for use than others. Where corn oil drops the ball is the balancing act is has to perform between omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. Your diet needs a balance between the omega-6 fats and omega-3fats. Omega-6 acids should only be two to four times more prevalent in your diet. However, the average diet of most Americans includes a ratio as high as 25 to 1 between the two fats.
Safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil and corn oil all contain high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, which can flip the scale from healthy oil to one that's unhealthy. Oils such as
flaxseed,
fish oil and food items like
spinach all contain high amounts of omega-3 oils and are far healthier for your skin, hair, bones and fertility.
Not only do lower amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids affect your health, higher amounts of corn oil's omega-6 fatty acids actually could speed the growth of certain cancers, such as prostate and breast cancer, according to a published in the April 15, 2008 edition of "Cancer Research." Other studies show that a diet high in Omega-6 fatty acids doubled the growth rate of cancerous cells. According to Mille Hughes-Fulford, director of the Laboratory of Cell Growth at San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center, there was a potential for the omega-6 to be responsible for turning on inflammatory genes significant in the growth and development of cancer.
While consuming some corn oil probably is better for you than eating a lard sandwich, the constant bombardment of additional omega-6 fats from the oil can affect your health. Even though the studies are not conclusive, it would be wise to investigate your intake and substitute oils high in Omega-3 fats as frequently as possible. Just like high fructose corn syrup, a little won't hurt you but when you consider all the foods that contain it, you have to start to worry about your well-being. Once you begin reading labels and investigating the "real content" of your food, you'll find many products contain corn oil and more omega-6 fats than you ever suspected.