What if it's the other way around? Soy oil first, then heavy computer use?

The general view is that heavy use of computers contributes to emotional distancing, difficulty with establishing and maintaining personal relationships. But heavy use of something else may do the same. That would be soybean oil. 
   
A scientific study, published in January, found that soybean oil has profound negative effects on the hypothalamus of male mice. (The researchers didn't study female mice but are probably doing so as I write these words.) The hypothalamus regulates mood and behavior.

If you think, 'That's just mice," think twice. Mice make a good substitute for human subjects in such research.

Science writer Peter Andrews, who has a degree in genetics,  outlined the horrifying discovery of the researchers in a January article for RT:

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But what is really shocking about the [Univ. of California - Riverside team's] latest findings is the effect soybean oil seems to have on the brain.

From Alzheimer’s to autism

The study is published in Endocrinology, a scientific journal, and it shows that when soybean oil is fed to mice it has major impact on their hypothalamus, an area of the brain crucial for regulating mood and behaviour.

More worryingly, it even affected over 100 of the mice’s genes, including one for controlling oxytocin, the love and bonding [empathy] hormone. Soybean-fed mice showed lower levels of oxytocin in the hypothalamus. 

Other genes affected had to do with metabolic and hormone pathways, including the insulin pathway, synonymous with diabetes. There was also upregulation of genes associated with anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.

Considering the evidence, the authors believe that soybean oil could increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and autism.

However, there is no concrete proof yet that soybean oil causes these conditions, since this research was conducted on male mice only. But mice are used as a model organism for human health for a reason, as a mammal species they have similar tissues and genetics to us, and it is reasonable to provisionally project some of the authors’ health warnings onto humans.

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This team of researchers has been studying soybean oil for several years; it was the team that found the oil induces obesity and diabetes in mice. In the wake of that bombshell discovery, you may trust food engineers were flogged by soybean lobbyists to find some way to reduce said harmful effects -- and they did.

And so the soybean industry was saved.  

Now the other shoe has dropped. To return to Andrews' article:

Is the GM version better?

There is a genetically engineered form of soybean oil that has a lower linoleic acid (LA) content, and this form is healthier for the heart. The authors also fed mice this form to see whether the results would be any better, but the low-LA form had a similarly detrimental effect on the mice’s brains.

There's more about the findings in Andrews' article and the many other articles that were published for the general public in the wake of the study's January 17 publication, and of course in the published study, but that's the gist.

It's not only autism, per se, that would come into question; there is a range of autistic-type disorders including Asperger's in what's called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Put another way, many Americans exhibit traits that suggest they suffer from ASD even if they're not autistic. The traits dovetail with the emotional problems found in many if not most heavy computer users.

But does the difficulty in establishing personal relationships come initially from the heavy computer use, or was it always easier for the ASD types to communicate with people via a machine intermediary?

The scientists are still a way from understanding the effect of soybean oil on mice brains, let alone human ones; however, that didn't stop Poonamjot Deol, the lead author of the January 17 study, from issuing a strong warning:

“If there’s one message I want people to take away, it’s this: reduce consumption of soybean oil."

But how, Dr Deol? For at least a generation Americans have been raised on the stuff -- many, from birth in infant formulas and baby food. Soybean oil isn't only used for cooking; it's now in so many processed food products it's easier to ask what processed ingestible it's not in than where it can be found.  The other day I saw the oil listed as an ingredient in a reputable brand of melatonin pills -- OTC pills to aid sleep.

Soybean oil is incredibly cheap; it became the staple oil additive for restaurants, bakeries, fast food franchises, and food service providers of all kinds -- think hospital meals, school lunches, prison meals, military meals, food programs for the elderly and homeless. Or just read labels in grocery stores to realize it's ubiquitous in the American diet.

Workarounds?  What about switching to other oils? Coconut oil was used as a control in the study and it didn't effect the hypothalamus.  But substituting coconut oil on the huge scale demanded by the food industries might not be doable. However, the researchers might find other oils that together with coconut oil could save day. And food engineers might be able to pull another rabbit out of the hat.  

But we are here now, with large numbers of Americans who don't get enough sleep and consume in large quantities a vegetable oil that is likely very bad for their brains.

So, a nation of sleepwalkers who don't have much empathy for each other when they have to come face to face. I'd call that a perfect storm.

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