The comment from Gladwell came during a podcast episode about a rarely discussed medical study from the 1960s which challenged the purported health benefits of vegetable oils. The study, a randomised, controlled trial of 9,000 participants, upended the conventional wisdom that vegetable oils were better for heart health, a conclusion which had been based largely on observational studies rather than controlled trials. Gladwell praised the study as “challenging 50 years of medical orthodoxy.”

Around 2021, the issue became splintered along partisan lines, as various figures from the online Right began to challenge seed oil’s purported health benefits. Much of this can be attributed to an influential Twitter account, Seed Oil Disrespector, whose meme-heavy posts about the purported health risks of seed oils, shared using the language of the online Right, spread so quickly through the community Right that it spurred accusations of industry astroturfing.

The Right’s scepticism of seed oils grew as many figures grew distrustful of medical authority. This became particularly pronounced during the Covid pandemic, with conservatives pushing back against the Covid vaccine and related mandates, often claiming that the financial interests of Big Pharma were being considered above the health of ordinary Americans. In a similar way, some on the Right pointed to the financial motives of major food corporations which produce seed oils as influencing medical organisations, who in turn recommended their products.

In the decade prior, such critiques were mainstream on the Left. A 2016 article in Psychology Today noted that the American Heart Association began arguing seed oil products were healthier than animal fats like butter and lard after the parent company of Crisco gave them $1.75 million. “Political, financial, and even egotistical” influences, rather than science, had led to the medical community’s strong stance that animal fats were bad for heart health, the author wrote. A similar 2017 article in the Los Angeles Times argued that “longstanding bias, commercial interests and the AHA’s need to reaffirm nearly 70 years of its ‘heart healthy’ advice” had led to the endorsement of seed oils and their derivatives as a healthy alternative.

As the Right has become more sceptical of seed oils and other processed foods, the Left-leaning media has become less interested in scientific debate on the subject, and more focused on the Right-wing fad component. The NYT article broke from this trend, citing several nutritional experts to argue that seed oils are not a health concern. “The claim that seed oils are ruining our health is especially rankling to nutrition scientists,” it read, “who see them as a big step forward from butter and lard.”