As an esthetician I am very interested in lipids, a.k.a. fats and oils. The skin loves lipids hence the many moisturizers on the market. But are all lipids/fats/oils good for your skin and your body? According to Dr. Raymond Peat, http://www.heall.com/body/healthupdates/food/saturatedfat.html

“unsaturated oils, especially polyunsaturates, weaken the immune system’s function in way that are similar to the damage caused by radiation, hormone imbalance, cancer, aging or viral infections”. Plus an abundance of polyunsaturated and unsaturated oils in the diet make it almost impossible to lose weight! These oils are stored in the body and are not burned as energy.

BAD OILS

So what oils are the ones that should be avoided like the plague on your skin as well as consumption?

• Soybean Oil
• Corn Oil
• Safflower Oil
• Canola Oil
• Sesame Oil
• Peanut Oil
• Walnut Oil
• Sunflower Oil
• Cottonseed Oil
• Almond Oil
• Avocado Oil
• Flaxseed Oil
• Cod Liver Oil
• Grape Seed Oil
• Jojoba Oil (this is really a wax)
• Any Hydrogenated Oil (high in transfatty acids- very toxic)

also avoid mayonnaise, store bought salad dressings and margarine

Don’t think for one minute that if you don’t eat these oils that they are okay to apply to the skin. The capillaries will pick up the toxic materials that comprise these oils. It is not done by refining the oil (except in the case of hydrogenated oils and the way some of the oils are extracted, i.e. grape seed oil, and avocado oil); it is actually the compounds (linoleic acid and linolenic acid, omega 6’s and omega 3’s) found in the oils themselves. Read more by Dr. Peat http://www.heall.com/body/healthupdates/food/saturatedfat.html

GOOD OILS

Now that we know what to avoid, what should we be looking for in skin care products and to ingest?

• Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (This is the by far the top choice for cooking and your skin)
• Organic Macadamia Nut Oil (skin and food)
• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (skin and food)
• Organic Butter (food, grass-fed preferred))
• Organic Shea Butter (skin)
• Organic Cocoa Butter (skin and food)
• Organic Red Palm Oil (skin and food)
• Organic Sea Buckthorn Oil (skin)

You may notice that a lot of these oils are in the tropical oil and saturated fat category. What makes these oils safe is that they are stable at high temperatures; therefore they don’t oxidize and create free radicals. One of the theories that tropical oils are better for us is that they grow in hot climates that are close to our body temperature of 98.6 Fahrenheit.

Organic extra virgin coconut oil should be your first oil choice for ALL of your cooking, baking and skincare products. Coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride which doesn’t get stored in the fat cells of your body, but instead it is burned as energy. Hence coconut oil is the least fattening of ALL of the oils. If you are trying to lose weight and you are at a plateau, try using coconut oil and see if you don’t jump start your metabolism. Sometimes you just need an oil change! For more information on coconut oil, read any of Dr. Bruce Fife’s books on the subject.

Macadamia nut oil is higher in mono-unsaturated fat than olive oil which makes it superior. Also, macadamia nut oil has a higher flash point than olive oil so it is more stable for cooking. Olive oil can turn into a transfatty acid when heated at high temperatures. These two oils should be used cold as in salad dressings and not used for cooking and baking. They are also acceptable in skincare products. ALL of your cooking and baking should be done with coconut oil. The best salad oil is a combination of ½ coconut oil with ½ macadamia oil, yum! It will tend to solidify at cold temperatures, but with a little warming it will melt easily.

Shea butter and cocoa butter are good for dry skin. Also cocoa butter makes chocolate taste so good. There is growing research that organic red palm oil is safe, but I would suggest using it in moderation. If you don’t know by now, butter is much safer than margarine which is one molecule away from being plastic! The healthiest butter is made with ½ butter softened but not melted, with ½ melted organic coconut oil. Mix these two together and pour into a container. You may refrigerate it to get it to solidify; afterwards you can leave it out on the counter or table so it is spreadable when you are ready to use it. By blending your butter with coconut oil it will be really hard if you keep it in the fridge all the time.

Organic sea buckthorn oil is good for rosacea and wrinkles. Even though it is high in unsaturated fatty acids, it is well balanced in omega’s 3, 6, 7, and 9. The only other plant source that I know of that has a very similar balance of all of these omegas is chia seeds. Dr. Mercola sells a product with chia seeds and coconut, but you could make your own. It makes a great snack for dieters.

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS- EFA

Essential fatty acids, now that is a term of the 21 st century. With all the marketing and hype you hear about them, you would wonder how humans survived without them until now. Essential fatty acids (EFA) are linoleic acid (omega 6) and linolenic acid (omega 3). The big lie that we are told is that we need to take these because they are essential to our bodies. The truth of the matter is that we are able to synthesize EFA without actually eating them in oils or by applying them to our skin! The amount of EFA’s that we need in the diet daily is very small and we get all we need from unprocessed foods; fruit, vegetables and grains. The typical American diet comprises of way too much omega 6’s found in vegetable oils (including those on the BAD OIL list), margarine and shortening which are ingredients listed on almost every packaged food you pick up. Because of the large amount of omega 6’s that most people consume in a day there has been a huge marketing push to sell you omega 3’s in the form of flax or fish oils. Now we have people taking omega 3’s from either flax or fish oils but the problem is we don’t know how much omega 3’s to take in order to balance out the high omega 6’s in the diet. Too much omega 3’s is just as bad as too much omega 6’s. Too much omega 3 will thin the blood to the point it won’t clot and you could bleed to death! Also viral infections may last longer with too much omega 3 in the body.

So what is the answer to balancing EFA’s? According the Dr. Bruce Fife, simply reduce or eliminate your intake of processed foods and vegetable oils (the oils listed under BAD OILS). By doing this, you will decrease the amount of omega 6’s and won’t need to take omega 3’s to balance you out.

Next, replace your vegetable oils with coconut oil and macadamia nut oil.

SKINCARE & LIPIDS

Lastly, look for skincare products with good oils; this has been much harder to do than replacing the oils in the diet. Transdermal delivery of bad oils in skincare products are a problem that has not been addressed. Skincare manufacturers don’t believe or are not aware of how important good oils are needed in skincare products. Most skincare manufacturers are not looking at the clinical research on lipids and the effect they have on transdermal delivery. Dr. Raymond Peat says that, “EFA’s found in flax seed, soy, walnut, almond, and corn oil are responsible for the spontaneous development of cancer, age pigmentation, obesity, cataracts…” Dr. Peat is not just talking about ingesting these oils, but goes on to say that “skin contact with these substances should be avoided.” In an email that I received from Dr. Bruce Fife, he says that he would not apply to his skin any of the oils with a high amount of EFA’s (omega 3 & 6’s).

The best answer for now is to look for skincare products that contain organic coconut, macadamia nut, olive, shea butter, cocoa butter or sea buckthorn oil as one of the top listed ingredients.

Until skincare manufacturers recognize the imbalance of omega 3 and omega 6’s in the oils that they choose to use in their skincare products. We need to eat a diet that is as unprocessed as possible and use skincare products with the least amount of polyunsaturated oils.