Last week was a difficult one between it having been the 24^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rather than opine on the events, we will point out one thing to founders: the importance and power that’s in a name. If you name your company, say, Avalanche, which one did in the days of Web 1.0, whether as an act to defy fate or one of prescience, guess what happened? Yup, it all came tumbling down. The Bonfire Collective? Went up in smoke. Note to self: Charlie Kirk’s outlet was Turning Point and so far, from all indications, his assassination did appear to trigger something of a turning point. As always, time will tell.

In times of stress, people tend to turn to food for comfort, so let ‘s focus on food, speaking of turning points. Food and various ingredients have come under scrutiny of late. Seed oils, in particular. “For several decades, saturated fat was wrongly blamed for heart disease, while vegetable oils quietly caused a surge in obesity, inflammation, and chronic metabolic disorders. Newly appointed FDA commissioner Dr. Marty Makary is now leading efforts to revise outdated dietary guidelines that were built on cherry-picked data from Ancel Keys’ Seven Countries Study. There was just one problem with the research — Keys cherry-picked the data. He selectively chose the countries that fit his hypothesis while ignoring data from 16 other countries that went against his recommendations. Had he chosen a different set of countries, the data would have been the opposite — that increasing the percent of calories from fat actually reduces the number of deaths from coronary heart disease,” Mercola reported in The War on Saturated Fat is Finally Coming to an End.

Despite the methodological flaws in his data, the medical community accepted Keys’ study

FYI, “Seed oils, or “vegetable oils” are extracted from vegetable crops like soybeans, cottonseed, and corn,” HeartandSoil explained. “Seed oils were originally byproducts of manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. They weren’t initially intended for the dinner table. However, by the mid-1900s, seed oils had become a staple ingredient in packaged foods, reshaping the Western diet in ways that are raising new health concerns today. The food industry favors seed oils for their low cost and so-called “heart-healthy” reputation. Research suggests that seed oils pose significant health risks.

As seed oil consumption skyrocketed, so did the rates of chronic disease. “A 2016 BMJ-published reanalysis found replacing saturated fat with linoleic acid-rich vegetable oils increased cardiovascular deaths, despite lowering cholesterol… Industrial seed oils like canola and soybean are now linked to mitochondrial damage, inflammation, and chronic illness — while saturated fat is finally being recognized as metabolically supportive.”

“For decades, artificial trans fats were widely consumed, promoted as healthy, and intentionally added to foods. Unlike the natural trans fats in dairy, which have been linked to health benefits, artificial trans fatty acids are associated with a 23% to 26% increased risk of heart disease,” noted Zero Acres in a long piece that breaks down the dangers of each seed oil.

“If the dangers of trans fats had been publicized, tens of thousands of products would have needed reformulation. So, the food industry was reluctant to change and even funded studies to create conflicting evidence showing that trans fats were harmless.”

As always, follow the money. Which should not come as a big fat surprise, pun intended, and rather myopic, considering the toll that it’s taken on Americans’ health – and medical expenses. The US is far from one of the healthiest countries in the world (61 on the Global Health Index) – and America ranks worst in the world for health care—despite spending trillions, Fortune reported, and that’s sick.

The point is that attention is at long last being paid to food and various ingredients that we’ve long been ingesting.  So, speaking of turning points, the bottom line: careful what goes into your mouth these days. And what comes out of it. Onward and forward.