You might assume that a touch of oil in your pan, a dash in your salad dressing, or a layer of margarine on your toast is harmless, perhaps even beneficial.

However, one expert warns that the oils lurking in our kitchen cupboards could be quietly sabotaging our health.

From the fast-food joints we frequent to the salad dressings we pour and even the supermarket breads we buy, seed oils are omnipresent. Many of us consume them in astonishing quantities without even realizing it.

Gina Urlich, a clinical nutritionist and mother from New Zealand, has highlighted the oils she avoids entirely, cautioning that they can lead to inflammation, harm DNA, and hasten the aging process.

“These oils aren’t in your diet by chance,” Gina shared with her audience.

‘They’re cheap, shelf-stable, and profitable. But your body pays the price,’ she added.

Gina, who has amassed a loyal following online for her evidence-based approach to health, has said these oils have quietly become the ‘backbone of ultra-processed foods.’

They’re prevalent in large quantities of breads, sauces, snacks, and takeaways we reach for every day.

According to clinical nutritionist, Gina Urlich, everyday seed oils could be slowly wrecking our health – and they’re in everything from fast food takeaways and salad bar dressings to supermarket breads and even so-called ‘healthy’ snacks

Her blacklist includes soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, rice bran oil, and margarines, warning that they are ‘toxic’ when heated, causing inflammation in the body

And while they might make food more convenient, the impact on our bodies is far from harmless.

‘The average Western diet has a 15:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (our bodies evolved on closer to 1:1),’ she explained.

However, a chronic imbalance like this only leads to one thing – inflammation in our bodies.

Her blacklist includes soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, grapeseed oil, rice bran oil, and margarines.

While they sound fairly ordinary, Gina said the dangers lie in what they do to the body once consumed, especially when heated.

‘When heated, seed oils release toxic aldehydes that damage DNA, accelerate ageing and harm heart health,’ she warned.

Oxidised seed oils, she added, are particularly dangerous as they can turn ‘bad’ cholesterol into artery-clogging plaque.

The long-term consequences of excess consumption have been linked to obesity, fatty liver disease, and type 2 diabetes.

For healthier alternatives Gina turns instead to oils and fats in their most natural state like olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, fish, and butter/ghee

Gina (pictured) warned that seed oils release toxic aldehydes that damage DNA, accelerate ageing and harm heart health. When oxidised they can also be ‘particularly dangerous’ as they can turn ‘bad’ cholesterol into artery-clogging plaque

‘They’re the backbone of ultra-processed foods [like] breads, snacks, sauces, [and] takeaways, which is why we eat them in massive, unbalanced amounts.

And while margarine was once marketed as a ‘healthier’ alternative to butter, Gina stated that the opposite is true, calling it one of the key fats she bans from her home.

As for her alternatives, Gina turns instead to oils and fats in their most natural state.

‘The fix,’ she said, is non-processed olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, fish, and butter/ghee.’

Her advice is simple, but it will make shoppers think twice when reaching for their go-tos in the supermarket aisle.