Thoughts on 'Of Rats and Sidney Diet Heart...', Alan Flanagan's Post Defending Seed Oils

Apologies to Stan Efferding, who asked me last year to look at this blog post. I really don’t like doing this kind of post, especially when it’s a soft target, but as it keeps coming up, I guess I have no choice.

So here we go.

Introduction

Alan Flanagan
(Flanagan, 2020a)

The blog post in question is titled “Of Rats and Sydney Diet-Heart: Drawing a Line Under Polyunsaturated Pseudoscience” (Flanagan, 2020b), the author is Alan Flanagan, who “…has an MSc in Nutritional Medicine, is currently pursuing his PhD, and a [sic] former practicing Lawyer (Barrister) from Dublin, Ireland.” He states, “The core values behind Alinea Nutrition are critical thinking that is clear, objective, rational, free from dogma, and informed by evidence” (Flanagan, 2020a). Alinea being his website’s name.

He commences his post:

“To say that hysteria about the health effects of polyunsaturated fats [PUFA] has reached fever pitch may be an understatement.

“It can be interesting watch [sic] a trend of thought gain traction when that train of thought is inconsistent with a substantial total body of evidence, from multiple converging lines of inquiry.

“It speaks to something at play beyond scientific discourse, and frankly much of the “debate” regarding PUFA is steeped in a mix of narratives, from fantasies about our evolutionary past to conspiracy theories about governments, scientists, the food industry, and ‘BigPharma’.

“I have a few thoughts as to why the PUFA-hysteria appears to have exponentially increased in recent years. It’s likely not an exhaustive list, but these are some of the more common narratives I’ve observed….”

Well, I’ve been told I’m in a good part responsible for the “PUFA-hysteria”, so I guess I have an interest in defending it.

Post has moved to Substack.