Are they putting engine grease in your oat m*lk?

Let's talk about rapeseed oil.

Another Sunday, another grocery run. You expect it to be similar to the others: uneventful and blissfully boring. But as fate would have it, this Sunday promises to be a bit more exciting. You spot Aunt Dot in the supermarket from three aisles away. Not because she sees you, but because she’s blocking the entire plant-m*lk section with the urgency of someone preventing a crime. Her trolley is parked sideways like a barricade, and she’s waving a carton of oat m*lk in the air as if she’s discovered contraband.

“Look at this!” she hisses to a bewildered shopper who only wanted to restock her barista blend. “Rapeseed oil. Industrial lubricant. In your morning latte!”

By the time you reach her, Aunt Dot has already launched into a TED Talk nobody asked for. She gestures dramatically toward the ingredient list, tapping “rapeseed oil” with the energy of someone who’s just connected the final red string on their conspiracy corkboard.

“They’re putting ENGINE GREASE in your oat m*lk,” she declares, lowering her voice to a theatrical whisper. “Engine. Grease.”

“Here we go again”, you think to yourself while stepping in to save the poor woman before Dot starts connecting the industrial lubricant claim with her usual theory about oat m*lk companies partnering with tractor manufacturers.

Now, if you have also tried to navigate the labyrinth of well-intended advice, nutritional hype headlines, sensationalist TikToks, and (like most of us) are trying to make healthier choices, it is likely you have also encountered claims warning about this devilish substance: seed oil.

Although you may have not come as far as concluding that rapeseed oil was siphoned straight out of a tractor engine and funneled (secretly) into your oat m*lk, it is worth delving deeper into the narrative that “seed oils are part of a global plot to inflame our organs and poison our lattes”.

So what’s the craic?

Essentially, seed oil misinformation, often driven by social media influencers and political figures, falsely claims that oils like canola, soybean, and sunflower are “toxic” or the primary cause of modern chronic diseases.

This can be tracked to a 2018 conspiracy theory that the EU had banned canola oil. After marinating in the cesspools of the internet for a while, the world’s most renowned truth tellers like Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Carnivore MD (a word I never thought I’d write), and others started pushing this theory into the mainstream. It then quickly turned into a fan favourite for carnivore dieters, wellness influencers, Trump, crypto-bros, right-wing creators, and of course Aunt Dot.

(for more on this, read this interesting take by Rolling Stone).

Saying this is unequivocally wrong would lack nuance, but the thin premise of the reasoning lies largely in mixing up causation and correlation.

For example, seed oils are prevalent for deep-fried foods like fries, chicken, vlammetjes, and kroketten. If you consume too much fried food, it can be bad for your health. However, the issue here is the amount of deep-fried food people consume, not the fat it is fried in. That is like blaming the beer glass for your hangover, instead of how many times you ordered another round.

This does not negate a broader discussion about how fried foods are marketed, promoted, and often made cheap and widely available in ways that encourage overconsumption and can contribute to poor health outcomes. But in that context, seed oils are largely an innocent bystander rather than the root cause.

Still, people like to push for simple answers to complicated problems. Sadly, nutritional advice is mostly boring: eat a balanced diet, exercise a bit, and avoid eating bitterballen three times a day.

But let’s dive a little deeper.

(Full disclosure, I love eating vlammetjes, kroketten, and fries as much as the next person, and I have no beef with them.)

Myth I: Rapeseed oil is an industrial lubricant.

The origin story of the infamous grease meme. Someone online heard that rapeseed oil can be used for industrial purposes. Someone else downloaded TikTok. Suddenly Aunt Dot is texting the extended family group chat to “check the ingredients before we all turn into lawnmowers”.

So let’s rewind.

Rapeseed is a bright yellow flowering plant grown globally for its oil. The oil exists in two distinct categories: rapeseed oil (broad term) which includes both the modern food-grade varieties and the older, industrial varieties; and canola oil which was first developed in Canada and is frequently used to refer to the food-grade forms.1

Now, the important thing to remember here is that food-grade rapeseed oil and industrial rapeseed oil are not the same substance wearing a different hat and trying to trick you. They come from different cultivars and have very different chemical profiles.

The industrial stuff is classified as HEAR (High Erucic Acid Rapeseed), and, as the name suggests, is high in a substance called erucic acid. This type of rapeseed oil is used for lubricants, slip agents, and technical applications. Not for your breakfast.

The food grade stuff is classified as LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed), and, you guessed it, is low in a substance called erucic acid. LEAR rapeseed oil is bred specifically to contain extremely low levels of erucic acid, which is precisely what makes it safe, regulated and suitable for human consumption.2

Comparing the two is like comparing table wine to industrial ethanol: same plant family, wildly different function. So, there is no need to worry: the rapeseed oil giving your oat m*lk a smooth, velvety and rich texture is carefully regulated, bred to be safe and, most importantly, often recommended by medical organisations due to its health benefits.3

Myth II: Rapeseed oil causes inflammation and heart disease.

Change one word, and this one would have been correct.

Which one, you might ask? Well, let’s unpack it.

The confusion mostly stems from omega-3s and omega-6s getting thrown into an internet tug-of-war. Both are found in rapeseed oil, and belong to the family of polyunsaturated fats. These are the good guys that help improve cholesterol, support heart rhythm, reduce inflammation, and generally keep your body running smoothly.4

And here’s the bit that always gets glossed over in viral videos: your body needs both of them. They’re called essential fatty acids for a reason, you literally can’t make them yourself. They have to come from food.

So, how did this simple statement get taken out of context?

It starts with the fact that both omega-3 and omega-6 fats help your body produce signalling molecules called eicosanoids. Omega-3 versions tend to lean anti-inflammatory, while some of the omega-6 ones can nudge things in the other direction.5

And you can probably guess what happened next.

In a world of hot takes, TikTok soundbites, and nutrition advice delivered in fifteen-second monologues, that nuance evaporated instantly. Suddenly it turned into the cartoon version:
omega-3 = “good,”
omega-6 = “bad.”

For more on this, and if you want to hear from a human baked potato with legs, click here.

And this is not how the world works. Reality is rarely black and white.

The actual science reads more like a plot twist: experts have said (repeatedly) that there’s no justification for cutting back on omega-6-rich foods. Quite the opposite: higher consumption of these types of foods is consistently associated with lower cholesterol, better blood sugar control, and reduced cardiovascular risk.6 Not exactly the inflammatory horror story getting pushed on the internet.

Still skeptical?

So were researchers, which is exactly why they put the claim to the test.

Across more than 15 randomized controlled trials (aka the gold-standard research method), the verdict was remarkably boring: refined seed oils do not increase inflammation. If anything, linoleic acid, the main omega-6 in rapeseed oil, tends to decrease inflammatory markers.7

So, in a nutshell, as long as you’re getting enough omega-3s, the amount of omega-6 you consume isn’t a problem.

Myth III: Rapeseed oil is genetically modified everywhere.

Ah yes, the “everywhere”, “everyone”, “everything” statements your favourite influencers love to use.

This one spread on the internet like wildfire because it sounded sweeping and scary.

Thankfully, debunking it is charmingly simple.

Stripped of context, this myth mutates into a universal threat, as if all oat m*lk is harbouring some rogue GMO villain.

In the end TikTok does give you only a few seconds to get your point across, so why not make it artistically exaggerated and beautifully sensationalised. But rest assured: GMO rapeseed is not even approved for cultivation in the European Union.8

So when drinking oat m*lk produced in the EU (like your favourite ROA Barista), your rapeseed oil is not GMO, it’s coming from conventional, tightly regulated crops.

Whether GMO is necessarily an apocalyptic threat is another story, for another time.

Some quick takeaways:

• Food-grade rapeseed oil is not the same as industrial rapeseed oil.

• Decades of research show seed oils do not increase inflammation.

• Omega-6 fats are essential nutrients, not dietary villains.

• Rapeseed used in EU food production is not genetically modified.

In other words: the villain of the internet’s favourite nutrition conspiracy turns out to be… a fairly normal, well-studied cooking oil.

Instead of the supervillain it was named to be, if anything, it’s the quiet supporting character, helping your oat m*lk foam properly, giving it a smooth and creamy texture, and getting blamed for crimes it never committed.

By the time you and Aunt Dot finally leave the plant-m*lk aisle, she’s still casting suspicious glances at the cartons, like they might confess to something under pressure. You offer an apologetic smile to the woman who endured the impromptu lecture and continue walking.

You grab your oat m*lk, wish her a happy Sunday, and head home to make a perfectly creamy latte, powered, apparently, by engine grease.

Meanwhile, Aunt Dot is already drafting a message to the family group chat about hidden glucose peaks and tractor lubricants.

Some things never change.