The Truth About Seed Oils (And Why Your Dog's Bowl Is Full of Them)

I threw away every bottle of vegetable oil in my kitchen a while back. All of it. My boyfriend — who's a chef, trained to cook with the stuff — just stood there and watched me do it. He begged for a spray bottle back within a week. I caved, but only for avocado oil. He's since admitted the coconut oil, ghee and tallow actually taste better anyway.

That's the short version of how seriously I take this. Here's the long version, courtesy of my conversation with Cherie Calbom — "The Juice Lady," nutrition researcher, and co-author of the new book The Truth About Seed Oils.

🎙️ Listen to the full podcast episode The Truth About Seed Oils

What seed oils actually are

Canola, soy, corn, safflower, sunflower, grapeseed, rice bran, cottonseed, peanut oil. That's the list. They've been marketed as "vegetable oils" for decades, which is a genius bit of branding and a complete lie — there are no vegetables in there. There are seeds, mashed and heated to around 500°F in industrial vats, then treated with hexane and other chemicals to bleach, deodorize, and neutralize the rancid smell that process creates. By the time it's sitting on a shelf in a plastic bottle, you're looking at a product that generates real oxidative stress in the body. Oxidative stress leads to inflammation. Inflammation, as Cherie put it, is upstream of pretty much every disease you could name.

And here's the part that should annoy you more than it probably does: rapeseed oil (canola) started life as machine lubricant. So did cottonseed oil. Both were repurposed into "food" during wartime shortages, when tropical oils like coconut couldn't get through blockaded shipping lanes. After the war, heart disease spiked, autopsies found plaque, and — instead of looking hard at the new industrial oils flooding the food supply — the blame landed on saturated fat and cholesterol. Ancel Keys ran with that theory. Seed oils got rebranded as heart-healthy. Heart disease is still the number one killer in this country.

The ratio nobody's watching in pet food

This is the part that hit hardest for me as a canine nutritionist. We should be aiming for roughly a 4:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. Most Americans run closer to 20:1. But AAFCO's maximum omega ratio for pet food formulation — which isn't ever published on the bag - lands around 30:1.

Thirty to one. In a body far smaller than yours, eating the same bowl every single day.

Some of the better-formulated foods (Green Juju is one I've talked about before) aim for 4:1 to 8:1 depending on the recipe. That's the range you actually want. If you're not sure where your dog's food falls, check the label for named oils — canola, soy, corn, safflower, sunflower — and know that "vegetable oil" is just those same oils wearing a disguise.

You can also just test it. OmegaQuant makes an omega-3 test kit for dogs — mail-in blood test, take it to your vet, get real numbers instead of guessing. We carry it at Wild Wellness Pet.

What Cherie actually feeds her dog

Her schnauzer, Winston, eats raw and dehydrated meat — beef, turkey, chicken, duck, rotated — with ground vegetables, a sprinkle of ground seed meal for linoleic acid, and a drizzle of olive or coconut oil on top. No seed oil anywhere in the bowl. She also added a supplement with herbs and glandulars for some ADD-type hyperactivity he was dealing with, and says it's brought a noticeable calm and focus that wasn't there before.

He also eats plain lettuce (crunchy only — he's apparently a texture snob) and carrots. Not exactly a complicated protocol.

The oils actually worth keeping

If you're staring at your pantry wondering where to start: extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, and cold-pressed sesame oil in small amounts. Macadamia and almond oil work too, if you don't mind the price tag.

The smoke point matters more than most people realize. Once an oil starts smoking, it's oxidizing — producing aldehydes and lipid peroxides that add straight to your body's inflammatory load. If it's smoking, it's done. Toss it and start over.

The egg thing you need to hear

A study from Seventh-day Adventist researchers, published with Loma Linda University — looked at whole egg consumption (yolk included) and Alzheimer's risk. People eating five or more eggs a week had a 27% lower rate of Alzheimer's and dementia than those eating close to none. The study is called Egg Intake and the Incidence of Alzheimers Disease and can be read on PubMed here. 

The yolk is where the choline lives — a building block of acetylcholine, which your brain (and your dog's) uses for memory and learning. It's also rich in omega-3s, B12, and zeaxanthin. We spent decades throwing out yolks and choking down egg whites because of a cholesterol theory that got formally retired in 2015, once long-term population studies showed dietary cholesterol barely moves blood cholesterol at all. Old misinformation doesn't leave the menu just because the science changed — Costco still sells egg white quiche.

Feed the whole egg. Cook the white (it improves protein availability), leave the yolk soft or raw if you're comfortable with that. Your dog's coat will thank you. So will their brain.

Where to start

You don't have to gut your pantry in one afternoon like I did. Read labels. Anywhere you see canola, soy, corn, safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, or "vegetable oil" — including in plant milks, popcorn, mayo, and yes, most kibble (even some "healthier" cooked food options) — that's your sign to look for a different product. Swap in one good oil at a time. Ask what ratio your dog's food is actually running.

This is what getting back to nature actually looks like in practice. Not a grand gesture — just knowing what's in the bowl.

Cherie's book, The Truth About Seed Oils, and her free 21-day menu plan are available at truthaboutseedoils.com.

Want to know where your dog's omega ratio actually stands? The OmegaQuant test kit is available now at Wild Wellness Pet.

Don't forget your Coco Therapy coconut oil, also available on Wild Wellness Pet.