You’ve probably seen it in your feed: seed oils are toxic, omega-6 fats cause inflammation, never cook with vegetable oil. But is any of that actually true and what does it mean for what you’re feeding your kids?

For years, the guidance felt simple: fear the seed oil, praise the omega-3, and assume anything called “vegetable oil” is working against your child’s health.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Martha Belury, PhD, RD, a professor at The Ohio State University who has spent more than 30 years studying fatty acid metabolism, to separate what the research actually shows from what’s circulating on social media.

As a pediatric dietitian, I found this conversation clarifying in a way I didn’t expect. I think it will be for you, too.

Dr. Belury walks us through what omega-6 fatty acids actually are, and why one of them, linoleic acid, is essential, meaning your child’s body can’t make it and has to get it from food. It’s one of two essential fatty acids; the other is the omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid.

We also get into why there’s still no RDA for either of these essential fats, and why that gap matters. Without an established threshold for what kids actually need, Dr. Belury explains, it becomes easier for nutrition claims to fill the vacuum, including the idea that seed oils are inflammatory.

That claim is the one I most wanted her to address. Dr. Belury has run the clinical trials herself: when you fortify diets with an omega-6-rich vegetable oil, inflammatory markers like C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 don’t go up. In her research, they tend to go down. She also breaks down the difference between acute inflammation, the kind that helps a wound heal, and the chronic inflammation linked to conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes, which fatty acids don’t drive on their own.

We close the conversation with what decades of cardiovascular research show about linoleic acid and heart health, and what the adult research on linoleic acid and metabolic health may, or may not, suggest for children with obesity, an area where pediatric-specific research is still badly needed.

This is one of those episodes that gave me a much clearer way to think through nutrition claims I see online, and I think it’ll do the same for you.

In This Episode, We Cover:

• What omega-6 fatty acids are and how they differ from omega-3s
  
• Why linoleic acid is one of only two essential fatty acids in the human diet
  
• What can happen when kids don’t get enough essential fatty acids
  
• Why there is still no RDA for linoleic acid or alpha-linolenic acid, and what that gap means
  
• The biggest myths circulating about omega-6 fats and seed oils
  
• Why the science doesn’t support the idea that omega-6 fats cause inflammation
  
• The difference between acute and chronic inflammation, and why parents often mix them up
  
• What decades of cardiovascular research show about vegetable oils and heart health
  
• What adult research on linoleic acid and metabolic health may suggest for kids with obesity, and why pediatric-specific research is still needed

Listen to the full episode:

Resources & Links

• Connect with Dr. Belury: LinkedIn – Martha Belury
• Ohio State University, Department of Food Science and Technology: fst.osu.edu
• The Nourished Child Blueprint: https://thenourishedchild.com/nourished-child-blueprint/
• Book: Kids Thrive at Every Size by Jill Castle
• Newsletter: The Munch