By Jeff Dionot
Native to East Asia, the soybean became a popular choice for food producers as it has multiple uses. Aside from straightforward derivatives like soy milk, soy sauce, and tofu, many stand-alone foods such as cereals, processed meats, canned tuna, energy bars/snacks, and more possess a certain amount of soy. This prevalence has eventually led to soybean oil becoming one of the most widely used cooking oils.
This massive amount of consumption has an unintended consequence. In 2020, researchers at UC Riverside tested the effect of soybean oil on mice and have found that it could lead to neurological changes, causing anxiety, depression, Autism, and Alzheimer’s. When looking at the U.S. population, those disorders have the following statistics:
- Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.
- The leading cause of disability, depressive disorders affect roughly 4.7% of Americans.
- An estimated 5,437,988 (2.21%) adults in the United States have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
- One in 10 Americans age 65 and older (10%) has Alzheimer’s dementia.
Though the results have not been fully confirmed, the researchers discovered notable changes within the test mice. Rodents on the soybean oil diet showed changes in their hypothalamus, a region of the brain that controls emotional responses (via the production of cortisol – an important stress hormone). The manipulation of cortisol production would explain the increase in anxiety and depression among mice. The production of oxytocin, the love and binding hormone, decreased as well.
Hypothalamus: the affected grey matter in question.
In total, researchers concluded that over 100 hypothalamic genes altered with soybean oil. While the findings directly correlated to anxiety and depression, concrete proof on the introduction of Alzheimer’s, Autism, and even Parkinson’s disease has yet to be established seeing that research was only conducted on male mice. However mice possess similar genetics and tissue to humans so the findings may not be entirely farfetched.
Though this investigation is still being conducted, it has significant repercussions for soybean oil consumers. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, soybean oil is the most widely produced and used oil in America. As the birthplace of McDonald’s and other numerous fast food chains, this country utilizes soybean oil for food frying and as an additive to livestock. On an industrial scale, this looming impact seems to be inescapable for millions of Americans.
The silver lining in all of this is that the effects of soybean oil on human health may not be directly correlated to the effects of it on mice health. Yet that glimmer of hope doesn’t outweigh the fact that it already causes the handful of basic neurological disorders within the test subjects. If left unchecked and unnoticed, an even larger percentage of Americans and other consumers will become victims to mental illnesses that may prove to be irreversible.
Of course, we simply can’t place an entire ban on the usage of soybean oil. Aside from banning it from our own individual diets (mainly refraining from deep fried foods from high-traffic chains), what we can do now is spread the word about this and stop the consumption of soybean oil. We can only prevent this by knowing about the issue beforehand.
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Sources:
https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/a-guide-to-foods-rich-in-soy
https://www.webmd.com/allergies/soy-allergy
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/palm-oil#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6
https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2020/01/20/Soybean-oil-alters-genes-in-the-brain-Study
https://www.rt.com/news/479111-soybean-oil-change-mice-brain/
https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures