MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says seed oils - things like soybean, corn and sunflower oils - that they are poisoning Americans. Most of the medical community rejects that. But the messaging from the White House and its allies is causing real headaches for farmers who grow the crops. Frank Morris of Member Station KCUR reports.
FRANK MORRIS, BYLINE: The oil from pressing corn, canola, soy and other plant seeds used to be known simply as vegetable oil. Now it's widely called seed oil, and RFK Jr. says the stuff triggers chronic inflammation. His Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement recently released a documentary slamming seed oil, along with fluoride and farm chemicals. Here's Catherine Shanahan who calls herself Dr. Cate on the video.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CATHERINE SHANAHAN: The source of the most toxins is seed oils. They are worse than glyphosate, herbicides, pesticides combined. When you've been eating seed oils, your cells can't get energy out of it efficiently. And that's what causes heart attacks and strokes.
MORRIS: The American Heart Association, the Mayo Clinic and many other health advocates disagree. They point to decades of studies that show that seed oils reduce bad cholesterol and help stave off heart attacks and strokes. However, seed oils are used in deep-fried foods and high-calorie, processed snacks, typically full of salt and sugar. That stuff is unhealthy, and seed oil may suffer a kind of guilt by association.
PHILLIP STEGNER: I have made a big drastic switch in my personal life. I've, like, decided to, like, just not use them.
MORRIS: Phillip Stegner is general manager at Billie's Grocery, an upscale bakery and cafe in Kansas City.
PHILLIP STEGNER: We've had a lot of people, like, come in here and be like, are you guys totally, like, seed oil free? I'm like, no, but we have a very big emphasis on using, like, healthy fats.
MORRIS: Even burger chain Steak 'n Shake is switching to butter in sauces and now sells bacon double cheeseburgers with fries that are cooked in beef fat or tallow, not seed oil. The disputed claims about soy, corn and sunflower oil have reached all the way to the sunflower farm that Cameron Pierce operates in Central Kansas.
CAMERON PIERCE: I mean, my own kids - my son just walked through here, and I'll use him as an example. He goes - two, three months ago, he said, seed oils are bad for you. And I'm like - I was like, well, scientifically, they're not. He's getting it from social media.
MORRIS: Pierce says those Tik Tok posts are a real threat to the business. Farmer Tim Mikelson feels the same. He grows canola - another seed oil crop - in North Dakota and says, losing money over innuendo is galling to farmers who work all day every day in the realm of empirical reality.
TIM MIKELSON: Everything we do revolves around science. So the MAHA movement, it's kind of been frustrating for me to watch because those decisions are based off of fear, speculation and information that is not backed by science.
MORRIS: Mikelson says he believes the movement has so far cut canola sales by maybe 5%. He's surprised that the anti-seed oil trend has taken hold, and worries where it'll lead. Farm lobbyists say they're engaged and hope to protect farmers who grow seed oil crops. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris.
(SOUNDBITE OF POST MALONE SONG, "CHEMICAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.