Author Archives: Dr. Sukol

Cottonseed Oil, Crisco, and Trans Fats

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About ten years ago, some fifty years after concerns were first raised about a possible link between trans fats and heart attacks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that partially hydrogenated oils, the primary dietary source of trans fats in ultraprocessed food items, were no longer “generally recognized as safe” in human food. Processed food manufacturers were given three years to reformulate their products or to request an exemption. This action was predicted to prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks a year. Multiply that by 50 years. 

Trans fats were used throughout the ultraprocessed food industry in cookies, crackers, cakes and pies; frosting and shortening; potato chips, microwave popcorn, French fries, and fried chicken; doughnuts, biscuits, cinnamon rolls, and frozen pizzas; stick margarine and non-dairy coffee whiteners. Trans fats entered the food supply in the early 1900’s in the form of Crisco®, short for “crystallized cottonseed oil.” Crisco® was invented in the late 1800’s as William Procter and James Gamble (Messrs. Procter & Gamble) sought an inexpensive fat to replace tallow, the costly raw material required for their candle- and soap-making businesses. By 1905 they owned eight cottonseed mills, and the knowledge to convert liquid cottonseed oil to a solid. With the candle market shrinking, they made a startling decision, in retrospect, to market Crisco® as a food. Cheap, and with an unnaturally long shelf life, it quickly became a staple in homes and factories. But it was only in the kitchen that it worked as predicted; with regard to its deleterious effect on human health, no consumers, or doctors, would know for generations to come. 

Immigrant communities eager to adopt American customs became lucrative markets for ultraprocessed-food manufacturers. For all kinds of newly minted Americans, margarine, “vegetable shortening,” and non-dairy “coffee whiteners” rapidly supplanted traditional fats. To attract ethnic markets, Procter & Gamble solicited endorsements from community leaders, organized picnics and other outings, printed cookbooks to showcase the use of its manufactured products in traditional recipes. 

Crisco® is no longer made from cottonseed oil, but it is still made from oils that are highly pro-inflammatory. And cottonseed oil continues to predominate in many manufactured products. Why? 

From a scientific standpoint, cottonseed oil is highly stable chemically. It is not easily broken down by heat, oxygen, or time. The more stable a product, the longer its shelf life and the greater its profitability. Cottonseed oil owes its chemical stability in part to the fact that it contains very high levels of omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-6 fatty acids, which are strongly pro-inflammatory, are a major contributor to the epidemic of chronic inflammatory diseases in Western society. 

Cotton seeds entered the food supply inadvertently, at a time when science understood virtually nothing about their pro-inflammatory properties. As a country, we are paying for cottonseed oil with our health. 

Replacing Manufactured Calories with Food

If present trends continue, half of all Medicare recipients are expected to carry a diagnosis of diabetes in the coming decades. Responsibility for the cost of the diabetes and obesity epidemics eventually comes to lie, therefore, at the feet of each and every one of us. Consumers have the power to transform the food supply to a greater extent than we realize. You vote every time you shop, every time a bar code passes a scanner. Why wait for the FDA to initiate an evaluation of the evidence against cottonseed oil when you can decline to purchase products made with it today? 

Short-term convenience cannot, must not, trump the long-term health of our communities. Learn to bake with olive, coconut, and sesame oil instead of margarine. Instead of non-dairy creamers, if you don’t care for dairy then try alternative milks (e.g., coconut, almond, soy, rice) in your tea and coffee. Like our ancestors, we can make this an opportunity to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables. If we don’t spend our hard-earned dollars on nourishing food, then we will spend it at the pharmacy. The trans fat ban was a start.

Cooking with Spice and Heat

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I have learned, mostly over years of reading cookbooks and watching cooking shows with my dad (of blessed memory), that one way to make spices really bloom is to heat them briefly in some olive oil. This past Monday, I made shakshuka for my entire book group, and I did not skimp one bit on the spices. A double recipe of this shakshuka translated to 4 teaspoons of sweet paprika, 2 teaspoons of cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon of the Serrano chili powder I was lucky to discover the last time I was in Napa.

I started by frying a large onion with two bell peppers, one orange and one red, in a huge frying pan. Once the onions were turning glassy, I pushed all the vegetables to the perimeter of the frying pan. To the center of the pan, slick with olive oil, I added 5 cloves worth of chopped garlic plus all the spices, including some salt and black pepper. After 30 seconds of gentle stirring, I added two large cans of chopped tomatoes. I left the mixture to cook for 30 minutes, turned off the heat, and covered it, leaving it to rest for a few hours. When my guests arrived, I turned up the heat back on until the tomato mixture was gently bubbling. I cracked an egg into each of a dozen depressions I had made with my spoon, and replaced the cover. Eggs poaching in tomato sauce. All from our very own hens. After a short while, I began to check the eggs every few minutes until I could see they were cooked through. Dinner was served. 

To be honest, I was a little concerned about cooking with that volume of spices and that much heat, and I considered cutting the amounts, but something inside me just said, “Nahhh, go for it!” I’m not gonna lie, I was worried it might be too much. But everyone loved it! All my friends, even those with tender palates. And I loved it, too, because I love heat. I’m hooked. I’m not going to be afraid to cook with more heat and spices. 

Here’s another recipe that uses a generous helping of spices, though not as hot as the ones in the shakshuka, to make a very delicious lentil dal. The original version of this recipe comes from The Staple Store under the name “Not so dal.”  

Ingredients
2 tsp. olive oil
2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. sweet paprika
1 tsp. yellow mustard seeds
2 tsp. sesame seeds
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. coconut (or brown) sugar
1 1/2 cups red lentils
14-oz. can of chopped tomatoes

Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a medium saucepan until fragrant. Add the turmeric, cinnamon, paprika, mustard seeds and sesame seeds. Stir for 30 seconds. Add the red lentils, salt and sugar, a 14 oz. can of chopped tomatoes, and two cans of water. 

Cook 30 minutes or until done, and serve plain or over rice or quinoa. You can also jazz it up as desired with a squeeze of lemon, roasted sesame seeds, coconut yogurt, or a sprinkle of coriander.

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Cole Slaw

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I have made coleslaw twice in the past few weeks, so I thought you might like to see the recipe. The first time I made it with green cabbage with a little bit of red cabbage for color (and because there was some in the refrigerator). The second time I made the whole recipe with red cabbage and it was exceptionally attractive. Both versions were delicious. Great summer food. Cole slaw is not particularly complicated to make, and the homemade version is always worth it. Continue reading →

About Omega-3s and Omega-6s

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This week I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learned about two specific polyunsaturated fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. 

Let’s start with omega-3 fatty acids. These are compounds in the form of a long chain of carbon molecules with several double bonds, each of which acts as a pivot point. Flexible pivot points confer the ability to move in many directions, essential for movement and flexibility. Omega-3s owe their flexibility to all those double bonds, the last of which is located just three carbons from the tail, or omega, end of the molecule. That’s why it’s called an omega-3 fatty acid. Omega means end. In contrast, omega-6 fatty acids contain fewer double bonds, and the last one is located six carbons from the tail. Hence, omega-6.  Continue reading →

Salmon Teriyaki by the Lake

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The first week of May, we spent a long luxurious weekend with old friends who live at the confluence of two quiet lakes north of Detroit. Twenty-four hours a day, we found ourselves looking out large windows at the mesmerizing ripples on the surface of the water, lakes filled with Mallard ducks, geese, swans, a pair of loons, and even the first egret of the season. We saw four waddling yellow puffballs following closely after their Mallard parents. No matter the time of day, no matter the weather, the view out those windows was stunning. Continue reading →

The Skinny on Fat

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With all the talk about saturated fat and monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat and trans fat, it’s easy to get confused about how they fit into the big picture, and to understand what it means for the food choices you make. I’d like to give you another strategy for figuring out what to eat. Instead of FAT, I am going to talk about FATTY ACIDS. First, some definitions.

If fat is a sentence, then fatty acids are words. If fat is a word, then fatty acids are letters. If fat is the universe, then fatty acids are galaxies. If fat is a solar system, fatty acids are planets and moons. If fat is a pyramid, fatty acids are bricks. 

If foods are words, then I want to focus on the letters. Today, I want to talk not about olives and avocados, not olive oil and avocado oil, but rather about the o’s and the e’s with which they are spelled. This conversation is not about lard or chicken fat. It’s about the fatty acids of which they are composed. Continue reading →

P is for Phytonutrients

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I’m writing today about something I’ve been thinking about for a while but have not known how to put to words. A few weeks ago, I attended a wedding. After dinner, the woman seated beside me at the table remarked that now that she had eaten her “protein and vegetables,” it was time to go join the dancing. I hear friends describe how they ate their “protein,”or how they make sure to get the little ones at their tables to eat their protein. It’s like saying you ate your “produce” instead of your tangerine. Or your “fat” instead of your peanuts. People don’t say that. But I hear people say that they ate their protein all the time. Continue reading →

The Importance of Avocados, Olive Oil, and Peanut Butter

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Today I’m talking about fats, one of the macronutrients. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate are the three major macronutrients in the diet. Water is sometimes included as a fourth macronutrient.

But first, I’d like to begin with a few words on carbs: The term carbohydrates refers to carbohydrate that comes from a plant that grows in the soil. Whether leaf or fruit or root or stem, this kind of carbohydrate is always, always rich in fiber and phytonutrients. Except for milk and honey, carbohydrate doesn’t really exist in nature without the fiber. This means that whenever you come across carbohydrate without fiber attached, humans probably made it that way. But we don’t call whole, or fiber-rich, carbohydrates “healthy carbohydrates.” In a blog about good health and nutrition, you can assume that I’m always talking about the healthy kind. And while it is true that we, as a society, are drowning in stripped, “unhealthy,” carbs, people do not feel the need to keep reminding themselves.  Continue reading →

A Primer on Dietary Fat

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A great many parts of our bodies rely on fat to perform their essential functions, and I’d like to review some of them here. The better you understand fats, their functions, and their structures, the less susceptible you will be to the advertising that influences consumers to purchase products made with industrially-modified fats. Today we’re talking about fat. For purposes of this essay, consider the terms “fat” and “oil” to be interchangeable.  Continue reading →

Just Pure Tahini

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This past February I attended a presentation about tahini by Dana Harary, a founder of SoCo Artisanal Tahini, and Doug Katz, a local celebrity chef. We learned about Dana’s longstanding search for the most flavorful tahini on the planet, about the nutritional profile of tahini, and about SoCo’s commitment to positive change and collaboration. SoCo, short for Seeds of Collaboration, is a supporter of Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow (MEET), a nonprofit that connects young Israeli and Palestinian students.  Continue reading →