A few days ago we reported on a shocking recent study which showed that soybean oil caused serious genetic dysfunction in mice, leading to weight gain and serious neurological problems. These results should be cause for alarm for one simple reason: soybean oil is the most widely consumed oil in the United States. Indeed, there has been a 100-fold increase in soybean oil consumption during the 20th century. Soybean oil is everywhere, especially in the processed foods which make up a significant portion, even a majority, of the diets of most people in America and much of the rest of the developed world (see for instance this study from Brazil)…
In light of this focus on not just the physical but the mental and emotional effects of consuming vegetable-oil laden processed food, one aspect of the soybean oil study that has generated discussion in recent weeks is the finding that soybean oil consumption caused dysregulation of the mice’s oxytocin system. Only some of the implications of this were discussed in the study, leaving readers to enlarge upon them. As well as being involved in the regulation of weight gain, oxytocin also has an important role to play in the expression of empathy and social bonding. Read more…
