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was left plodding slowly behind.
    It’s always been very difficult to introduce a new idea into the scientific community, said Dr. Kritchevsky. “You know there’s an old saying that every new finding goes through three stages. First people say it’s against the Bible. Then they say it’s not wrong, but it’s not important. Well, it’s important, but we always knew it.” And so researchers were not willing to pay attention to any new evidence that supported dietary cholesterol and discouraged the consumption of processed polyunsaturated fats. They had all the evidence they needed to support the lipid hypothesis, to continue to vilify saturated animal fats, and to promote the consumption of polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
    Today the health benefits of small amounts of polyunsaturated fats as found in whole foods such as cold-water fish—cod, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, or fresh, nonrancid oils extracted from these fish—are well known. But the edible oil industry did not market naturally occurring polyunsaturated fats to Americans in small amounts. The oil industry manufactured and marketed factory fats made from polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as soy and corn and virtually inundated our food supply with these fats. Dr. Kritchevsky said that it wasn’t “a scam where two guys got together in back of the poolroom and said, ‘Let’s do this.’” Rather, it was the unregulated self-interest of capitalism that got Americans eating dangerous polyunsaturated vegetable fats.

CHAPTER TEN
What Are Polyunsaturated Fats Anyway?
    PRIOR TO 1900, VEGETABLE oil was processed out of its natural state (such as corn oil from corn) by small, slow, cold-temperature batch presses. But in the 1920s, industrialists realized that human-dependent, small batch cold-pressing was too slow and not profitable enough, so they switched to automated heat and chemical processes that produced high volumes of oil at a greater profit.
    Unfortunately, these new processes did very bad things to oils. In simple terms, fatty acids are chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms filling the available bonds. A fatty acid is considered “saturated” when all available carbon bonds are occupied by a hydrogen atom. Monounsaturated fatty acids lack two hydrogen atoms, and polyunsaturated fatty acids lack still more. The level of hydrogen atom “saturation” determines how stable, or resistant to rancidity, a fatty acid is when exposed to heat, light, and oxygen. Saturated fatty acids are the least likely to oxidize/go rancid (create free radicals), monounsaturated fatty acids are the second most stable, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are the most fragile under these conditions.
    The heat and chemical processing of polyunsaturated oils goes like this: Seeds, kernels, fruits, and nuts are hulled and ground, which exposes their oils to air and light and begins the rancidity process, creating free radical oxidation.
    After hulling, the pulp is cooked for up to two hours at hightemperatures—creating more free radical oxidation. Subsequent pressing also exposes the oil to heat, causing a chemical reaction that essentially creates the same chemical constituent as plastic, varnish, and shellac. Another method of removing the oil from raw sources uses chemical solvents, which also infuses the oil with free radicals.
    After the initial heat and chemical processing of vegetable oils, the oils are then often “de-gummed”: Phosphoric acid (used in bathroom cleaners) and high temperatures to remove impurities and nutrients, a process that increases rancidity/free radical oxidation. To remove free fatty acids and minerals from the oil, sodium hydroxide (i.e., lye, which is also used in Drano and Easy Off oven cleaner) and high temperatures are used. Subsequent bleaching removes undesirable pigments from oils. At this point, the oils may possess pungent odors and tastes that must be removed through a high-temperature deodorizing process.
    Some of