“It is amazing how many people still consume hydrogenated / trans fats without realising it and without knowing the adverse consequences in both health and appearance - especially cellulite. 25 years ago, when I started specialising in cellulite, that was perhaps acceptable but today there is no excuse of such ignorance. Trans fatty acid consumption - as well as peroxidised fat consumption from frying and air-frying - is an important cellulite causing factor. It is not as big as sugar consumption but important enough on its own. Learn more below...”
Hydrogenated seed oils and cellulite
Man-made, inflammation-causing fats and oils
Hydrogenated seed oils
Chronic, low grade inflammation is a major cause of cellulite, skin ageing and skin laxity
Which foods contain hydrogenated / trans fats and how exactly do they cause damage?
“Where I buy my oils and margarines, they are not hydrogenated”
Do seed oils cause cellulite? Absolutely!
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Man-made, inflammation-causing fats and oils
Hydrogenated fats/oils are one of the worst food ingredients you can put in your mouth.
Also known as trans fatty acids or simply trans fats, hydrogenated oils are man-made fats that accumulate in cell membranes and mitochondrial membranes in the entire body, displacing normal lipids.
This displacement of natural lipids with deformed artificial lipids leads to chronic, low-grade, inflammation and damage to all organs and tissues on the entire body, including blood vessels and connective tissue, such as skin.
Furthermore, like all fats, hydrogenated fats contain 9 calories per gram.
Hydrogenated seed oils and cellulite
Seed oils, i.e. omega-6 rich oils we consume too much of, are the ones that are typically hydrogenated.
Examples of seed oils include sunflower oil, corn oil, soy bean oil, cottonseed oil, mustard oil, grapeseed oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil etc
Too much omega-6 oils, even without hydrogenation, are known cause inflammation, especially when omega-3 intake is low.
Hydrogenating omega-6 oils to turn them into more solid hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated omega-6 fats makes them a lot more detrimental to overall health and skin health and are a major cause of cellulite for people who consume them.
Chronic, low grade inflammation is a major cause of cellulite, skin ageing and skin laxity
Fat accumulation, chronic, low-grade, inflammation and connective tissue / blood vessel damage are hallmarks of cellulite.
Furthermore, inflammation, connective tissue damage and blood vessel damage are hallmarks of skin aging, and overall body aging and degenerative disease.
So it is no surprise that trans fats are one of the three most important dietary causes of cellulite, together with sugar and fried food intake.
Which foods contain hydrogenated / trans fats and how exactly do they cause damage?
Trans fats are found in fried foods, such as doughnuts, and baked goods including cakes, pasties, pastries, pie crusts, cakes, biscuits, frozen pizza, cookies, crackers, margarines and other spreads.
Trans fats are basically unsaturated liquid oils transformed into solid fats by partially replacing one of the fatty acid double bonds with hydrogen. Hence the full name: partially hydrogenated fatty acids.
This configuration makes the oils solid, mimicking butter.
In the process, however, the fatty acid molecule becomes deformed and when these deformed lipid molecules get incorporated into the mitochondrial and cellular membranes, the result is cellular and mitochondrial dysfunction, damage and inflammation.
“Where I buy my oils and margarines they are not hydrogenated”
True, the last few years many manufacturers have removed trans fats from their products on the supermarket shelf (Marks & Spencer has done so since more than 20 years now).
However, as in most countries it is not a legal requirement to state the existence/percentage of trans fats in a product, we are simply in the dark with most processed foods, such as margarines, biscuits, pasties, pastries (e.g. croissants), cakes etc.
Moreover, trans fats are still abundant in products where you cannot see the label, such as in restaurant / takeaway food.
Basically, don’t expect to go to the fast food shop, pub or restaurant - even high-end restaurant - and consume food made with some sort of cold-pressed, extra virgin, unrefined, organic, biodynamic, non-GMO oil in a dark, glass bottle. It ain’t gonna happen.
Chances are your restaurant oil (even in a posh restaurant) will be some ultra-processed seed oil with various “stability” additives, pan-fried, wok-fried, sautée-fried or deep-fried several times at high temperature, quite often packed with trans fats, quite often made with GMO seeds and, of course, stored in a resin-coated container leaching BPA.
Please note that the word “vegan” is not a guarantee that the oil is not any of the above - there is A LOT of vegan junk food around. Neither the word “organic” is a foolproof way to ensure you do not ingest trans fats.
To minimise trans fat consumption:
Always check the label on store-bought products
Plus aim for home cooked meals with ingredients you can control, as opposed to eating out all the time
Believe me, even the most expensive restaurants use questionable oils or oils fried multiple times, i.e. highly oxidised / damaged oils. These may not contain trans fats in some restaurants, but they are lipoxidised nevertheless - not good for your thighs.
Do seed oils cause cellulite? Absolutely!
Absolutely. Seed oils are high in omega-6, which we in the Western world consume too much off, especially in relation to omega-3. The ratio of omega-6 vs omega-3 consumption in the West can reach up to 20:1, as opposed to the ideal 4:1.
Excessive consumption of omega-6 fatty acids, mainly found in seed oils, is pro-inflammatory, especially when combined with low consumption of omega-3.
In addition to the pro-inflammatory nature of seed oils, there other major problems with seed oils:
They are processed at high temperatures, leading to oxidative damage to the fatty acids
Are often extracted with the aid of solvents, not 100% of which can be removed from the oil
They undergo multiple refining processes which strip all the goodness from seed oils, leaving empty calories and damaged fatty acid molecules such as degumming, winterisation / dewaxing, bleaching and deodorisation, among others.
The end result is a damaged, proinflammatory, fattening oil with no goodness left in it.
So yes, seed oils do cause cellulite, by imbalancing the omega-6 : omega-3 ratio, by providing lots of empty calories and by further contributing to oxidative damage and inflammation due to refinement. Cold-pressed oils are better in this last respect then refined oils, but they still upset the omega-6 vs omega-3 balance and they still contribute a lot of calories to the diet.
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We are proud to be the first and only cellulite clinic in the world to offer Cellulite Ultrasonography™ to our clients, for accurate assessment, better treatment and enhanced results. Since 2022 we have assessed and provided valuable insights to hundreds of clients to better understand their specific case, see how their skin looks from inside and make informed decisions.
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(DISCLAIMER: Please note that this service is for your informational purposes only and does not constitute medical diagnosis or advice.)
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