Do seed oils oxidize readily under typical storage and cooking conditions?
From late 2025 into 2026, guests have disputed whether seed oils oxidize under typical storage and cooking. Nina Teicholz (DarkHorse Podcast) says they oxidize even without heat. Layne Norton (The Peter Attia Drive) and Chris Thompson (Huberman Lab) say they stay stable except after long storage or harsh heating.
they are unstable and oxidize even without heat.
Teicholz (DarkHorse Podcast) says sunflower seeds and nuts go rancid sitting on a kitchen shelf with no heat. Teicholz says seed oils are unstable because double bonds can open and attach to oxygen. Teicholz says seed oils yield hundreds of oxidation products.
3 claims, in their words
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“oils are fundamentally unstable, as we've described. They, because of those double bonds in each of those molecules that we talked about, and the fact that those double bonds at any time can open up and attach themselves, not only to hydrogen, which is what happens in hydrogenation, as you explained, but oxygen.”
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“an oil will start to oxidize even on your kitchen shelf with no heat, just over time. And you can, you know, if you leave, say, sunflower seeds, which are rich in these oils, or even nuts, you'll notice that they go rancid just sitting on a shelf.”
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“it's really the main reason that we have turned on seed oils in the last Say six, seven years is that they ha- they are so easily oxidized and can, they yield hundreds of oxidation products.”
they stay stable except after long storage or harsh heating.
Norton (The Peter Attia Drive) says heating soybean oil at 240 degrees Celsius for three hours oxidizes 8% of the oil. Norton says frying in one centimeter of oil forms oxidized products faster than five centimeters. Norton says the oxidation rate is low in large volumes even with heating. Thompson (Huberman Lab) says polyunsaturated fats are safe unless the oil oxidizes from prolonged storage or repeated deep frying.
5 claims, in their words
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“most of them, you got to be well over 200 degrees Celsius, and you've got to do it for hours. ... if you heat it at like 240 degrees Celsius for like three hours, you will start to get 8% of the oil being oxidized.”
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“In restaurants, however, when you are frying something, especially if you are frying in a thin layer of oil, the research shows going from like a, I want to say it's like a one centimeter to like five centimeters of oil, huge difference in how quickly oxidized and negative products will start to form.”
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“when these oils are in a large volume, the rate of oxidation is low, even with heating. By the way, all the heating in the processing these oils is done under a vacuum, which means there's no oxygen, which means virtually no chance for oxidation, even when In restaurants, however, when you are frying something, especially if you are frying”
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“if you have it in a vat and it's being heated all day, yeah, you're probably going to have a significant amount of oxidized trans fats.”
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“polyunsaturated fats have a lot of proof that they're very safe. Where you get into problems if you have a big container of it, like a huge container, they're not going to use it in a reasonable amount of time. And sitting in the sun is Something and you get oxidize, you know, it oxidizes.”
Listeners of “they stay stable except after long storage or harsh heating.” have not heard
Listeners of “they are unstable and oxidize even without heat.” have not heard
One case rests on shelf rancidity with no heat; the other rests on hours above 200 degrees Celsius. Teicholz cites hundreds of oxidation products; Thompson cites problems after prolonged storage or repeated deep frying.
1 argument the other side has addressed
“it's really the main reason that we have turned on seed oils in the last Say six, seven years is that they ha- they are so easily oxidized and can, they yield hundreds of oxidation products.”
“when these oils are in a large volume, the rate of oxidation is low, even with heating. By the way, all the heating in the processing these oils is done under a vacuum, which means there's no oxygen, which means virtually no chance for oxidation, even when In restaurants, however, when you are frying something, especially if you are frying”
- Oct 7, 2026 Published: cleared the gate.
- Oct 7, 2026 Layne Norton moved from “seed oils oxidize too readily to be safe for normal use.” to “they stay stable except after long storage or harsh heating.”.
- Oct 7, 2026 Chris Thompson moved from “seed oils oxidize too readily to be safe for normal use.” to “they stay stable except after long storage or harsh heating.”.
- Oct 7, 2026 Layne Norton (The Peter Attia Drive, 2026-01-19) addressed an argument by Nina Teicholz.
- Oct 7, 2026 8 new claims (DarkHorse Podcast, Huberman Lab, The Peter Attia Drive).
Published because: 3 shows, 2 positions, 343 days of debate. Questions publish only when claims come from at least three shows, at least two positions are held by different people, and the debate has lasted two weeks.
Pairs are matched by content across different episodes and shows; no exchange between these speakers took place unless both quotes come from the same episode.
The prose on this page is written by a model from the quotes shown, and every sentence of it rests on quotes you can open; sentences that could not be traced to a quote were removed before publishing. Positions are placed from each speaker's own words. Evidence labels say what the speaker cited, never whether it is true.
3 episodes behind this page
- 2026-09-21Huberman Lab — Best Tools for Gut Health & Weight Loss | Dr. Chris Thompson
- 2026-01-19The Peter Attia Drive — #380 ‒ The seed oil debate: are they uniquely harmful relative to other dietary fats? | Layne Norton, Ph.D.
- 2025-10-12DarkHorse Podcast — Seeds of Doubt: Nina Teicholz, PhD on DarkHorse
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