The Tenpenny Files with Udo Erasmus

What if the seed oils you’ve been told to eliminate contain something your body actually needs to survive? And if they do, what is the real problem we’re not being told about?

Omega-6 is an essential fatty acid. Your body cannot make it. Yet seed oils have become one of the most vilified foods in America. Udo Erasmus says that contradiction should make us ask a very different question: What happened to the oil before we ate it?

That question has consumed Udo for more than 40 years.

The pioneer of the healthy fats movement and author of Your Body Needs an Oil Change began investigating fats after severe pesticide poisoning in 1980 forced him to search for his own answers. With a background in biochemistry, genetics and biology, he went deep into the scientific literature and eventually came across something he couldn’t reconcile.

Omega-6 was essential. Yet he was also finding research associating oils containing it with serious health problems.

Udo wanted to know why.

His search led him inside the way commercial oils are manufactured, and this is where our conversation goes somewhere most discussions about seed oils never reach.

Udo describes what can happen to delicate fats as they move from seed to bottle through industrial processing designed in large part to extend shelf life. He walks me through chemical treatments, bleaching and high-temperature deodorization, along with the effects of light, oxygen and heat on oils he says are particularly vulnerable to damage.

Then we bring those oils home and heat them again.

Udo calculated what even a seemingly small percentage of damaged oil molecules could represent in a single tablespoon. The number stunned him. I’m not going to give it away here, because you need to hear him explain how he arrived at it.

But once you do, the frying pan sitting on your stove may look very different.

This conversation also challenges the growing movement to simply eliminate seed oils.

Udo argues that critics are confusing the oil with what has been done to it. Omega-6 itself, he points out, remains an essential fatty acid. He also explains why the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 matters and what happened when his own work with flaxseed oil pushed that balance too far in the opposite direction.

That distinction opens up an entirely different conversation about fat.

We get into extra virgin olive oil and why Udo says the label may not always tell you what you think it does. We talk about avocado oil, fish oil, plastic bottles, refrigeration and what consumers should be looking for when they stand in front of an entire aisle of oils at the grocery store.

Some of his answers surprised me.

And then there is the frying pan.

If there is one kitchen habit Udo wants people to reconsider, this is it. His explanation of what happens when vulnerable oils are exposed to heat raises a much bigger question about something millions of us do every day without giving it another thought.

It also forces us to revisit another nutritional message that dominated for decades: the low-fat diet.

Udo entered this field during the height of fat phobia. But omega-3 and omega-6 are essential fatty acids. If our bodies require them, what did we get wrong when we spent decades trying to remove fat from our diets?

Your Body Needs an Oil Change takes the discussion further than we could in one conversation, including the science behind essential fatty acids and Udo’s approach to choosing and handling oils. But the interview gives you something different. You hear how pesticide poisoning started his investigation, the contradiction in the research that stopped him, and what he discovered when he began asking how commercial oils were actually being made.

The book gives you the depth. This conversation gives you the story and the questions behind it.

For decades, we have argued over which fats are good and which fats are bad.

Udo Erasmus is asking us to look earlier in the story.

What happened to that oil before it ever reached your plate?

Meet our Guest

Udo Erasmus has spent more than 40 years studying fats, oils, nutrition and human health.

His work began after severe pesticide poisoning in 1980 left him searching for answers. Drawing on his background in biochemistry, genetics and biology, Udo began digging through the scientific literature and became particularly interested in essential fatty acids and the way commercial oils were manufactured.

His investigation eventually led him to develop methods and machinery designed to protect sensitive oils from light, oxygen and heat during production. He became an early leader in bringing flaxseed oil into the natural-food industry and later developed Udo’s Oil after studying the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Udo also holds a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology, has lectured on five continents and was inducted into the Canadian Health Food Association Hall of Fame for his work in the healthy-oil industry.

His books include Your Body Needs an Oil Change and Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill.

Website

Book: https://amzn.to/4qEGvxN