Oils have always been an important part of our diet. However, like most foods today, they have undergone an evolution in their manufacturing methods and consequently in their nutritional qualities.
Nowadays, industrial manufacturing, refining and the various chemical treatments they undergo cause their denaturation and a significant nutritional loss. Remember that some essential fatty acids (EFA) for the proper functioning of our body can not be synthesized by the body and must therefore be provided by the diet. This is particularly true of linoleic or Ω-6 (omega-6) acid and its derivatives, as well as alpha-linolenic or Ω-3 (omega-3) acid and its derivatives.
What makes the difference between industrial and artisanal mining is precisely this richness in these two vital elements. Before 1940, the artisanal extraction process provided virgin edible oils of first cold pressure. During and after the war, oil manufacturers were asked to produce more from the same amount of available seed. This is how the industrial extraction method came into being, simply for the sake of efficiency.
Under the guise of profitability, the new industrial methods, in addition to hot pressing, make the oils undergo various chemical treatments based on additives, petroleum, etc. Overheating generates tasteless, odorless and colorless oils, devoid of energy and nutritional qualities. Currently, the majority of the population consumes these oils, which are devoid of taste and flavor, but above all "dead" since they do not provide any vitamin, nutrient or essential fatty acids.
To preserve all their active ingredients, vegetable oils must be pressed mechanically and at temperatures around 30° to 40°C maximum.
If this is not the case, it will lead to a deficiency of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid, the biologically active natural form of which is also known by the more general name of vitamin F. This vitamin F must inevitably be coupled with vitamin E in order to benefit from its antioxidant properties. Unfortunately, vitamin E is also fragile and destroyed by these aggressive refining and overheating processes.
Vitamin F influences our immune system and appears to be an essential factor in maintaining its balance. Its deficiency is expressed in our populations by a strong increase in allergic phenomena and degenerative diseases.
The leader of the EFAs, alpha-linolenic acid or Ω-3 (omega-3), is found primarily in flaxseed oil and in smaller amounts in walnut and rapeseed oil. In order to function harmoniously, the body not only needs EFAs but also non-essential polyunsaturated fatty acids. These come from the diet but also from the metabolic conversion of Ω-3 (omega-3) and Ω-6 (omega-6), which makes us all the more aware of their metabolic importance. The recommended daily allowance for alpha-linolenic acid is 1.4 to 2.8 g per day. However, as a result of post-war manufacturing changes, our Western diet has an increasing increase in omega-6 at the expense of a decrease in omega-3. The ratio between these two oils varies from 10/1, 25/1 to 40/1. Recall that this optimum functional ratio should be 4 of ω-6 to 1 of ω-3.