Seed Oils and Insulin Resistance: Signal, Noise, and the Metabolic Context We Keep Missing (2026)
Few nutrition topics generate more heat than seed oils . To some, they are metabolic poison. To others, they are a harmless scapegoat distracting from calories and carbohydrates. As usual, the truth is less dramatic — and more uncomfortable. Seed oils are not a single-variable toxin . They are a metabolic stressor whose impact depends entirely on context . And insulin resistance is the context we keep ignoring. What We Mean by “Seed Oils” Seed oils typically refer to refined vegetable oils high in omega-6 linoleic acid (LA) , including: Soybean oil Corn oil Canola oil Sunflower oil Safflower oil They are: Highly processed Chemically extracted Cheap, shelf-stable Ubiquitous in modern diets They now account for a historically unprecedented share of total calories. The Real Question Isn’t “Are Seed Oils Toxic?” The real question is: How do seed oils behave inside an insulin-resistant metabolic environment? Because physiology changes everything. What is tolerable in a metabolically flexibl...