How We Score Seed Oils
Seed oils are one of the most polarized topics in nutrition. Mainstream coverage often calls them a non-issue. Social media often calls them the dietary villain behind everything. We think both positions are too simplistic.
Our framework: context matters
Oils should be evaluated by type, processing, amount, and use case — not by internet narratives alone. We do not automatically fail a product just because it contains a seed oil. We also do not ignore real differences between a lightly used oil in a non-fried product and a refined oil in an industrial food environment.
Type of oil
Different oils have different properties, stability profiles, and nutritional patterns.
Degree of processing
A highly refined oil is not equivalent to a less processed one. Refining changes the final ingredient and can reduce naturally occurring compounds.
How the oil is used
An oil in a deep-fried snack is not scored the same way as an oil in a non-fried product.
How much it represents
An oil that appears among the top ingredients carries more scoring weight than one used in a trace amount.
The full food matrix
We do not score oils in isolation. We score them within the reality of the full product: minimally processed, ultra-processed, fried, snack-based, or industrial.
What we penalize most
We reserve the strongest deductions for the highest-confidence problem categories.
- Partially hydrogenated oils and artificial trans fats receive the harshest penalty. These are the clearest negative oils in the food supply.
- Refined seed oils used in deep-fried foods, fried snacks, and likely repeatedly heated industrial contexts. These uses raise more concern than ordinary culinary use because the processing environment is more aggressive and the oil is often part of a broader ultra-processed product pattern.
- Refined seed oil as a primary fat source in an ultra-processed food. In those products the oil is rarely the only issue, but it is often part of a lower-quality formulation.
What we do not do
We do not treat every seed oil as an automatic failure. A refined seed oil in a non-fried product may still reduce the score, but usually to a much smaller degree. In our system, that reflects a lower-preference fat choice, not an automatic disqualifier.
We also do not treat all omega-6 sources the same way. Whole foods such as nuts, seeds, tahini, and seed butters are not scored like extracted industrial oils. Whole-food ingredients come with a different nutritional structure and are evaluated in that context. The presence of omega-6 alone is not enough to trigger the kind of penalty used for refined oils.
What we favor
Our scoring rewards oils that better align with a lower-processing, whole-food-oriented framework.
- Extra-virgin olive oil and avocado oil are usually treated more favorably because they fit a lower-processing, whole-food pattern more consistently.
- This does not mean every other oil is inherently harmful. We rank oils by quality and context, not by trends or fear-based messaging.
Why our approach is different
We are intentionally not using a blanket rule. An outright ban on all seed oils may sound decisive, but it misses important distinctions:
- not all oils are processed the same way,
- not all uses create the same concerns,
- and not every product containing seed oil deserves the same penalty.
Our model is designed to reflect that reality.
Bottom line
Our approach is straightforward
- strongest penalty for the clearest problem oils,
- stronger deductions in fried and ultra-processed contexts,
- smaller deductions in less concerning contexts,
- no blanket punishment when the evidence and product context do not support it.
That is why we do not score seed oils as a simple yes-or-no issue. We score them the way they actually appear in food: with nuance, hierarchy, and context.
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