What Are the Dangers of Cottonseed Oil for Men's Health?

Cottonseed oil is the third largest produced oil in volume, behind corn and soybean oil. It is used in products such as salad dressing, mayonnaise and icing, and it is the main ingredient in Crisco. Although cottonseed oil offers some significant health benefits, it also has the potential to be detrimental to men's fertility.

Benefits

• Cottonseed oil contains twice as much unsaturated fat as it does saturated fat, making it one of the few oils that is thought to reduce the intake of saturated fat.

Features

• Cottonseed oil contains tocopherols, which are antioxidants. These antioxidants make cottonseed oil a natural preservative. Due to this, cottonseed oil is widely used in many different food sources.

Theories/Speculation

• Cottonseed oil contains gossypol, a substance that has shown to cause sterility in rats. Because of this it was used in parts of the world as a contraceptive and cottonseed oil has been seen as a threat to men's fertility.

Research

• A 2006 study done at the University of Lecce, Italy, "Proteinaceous diet inhibits gossypol-induced spermatotoxicity,'" showed that gossypol in cottonseed oil is not an effective contraceptive, because if combined with most proteins, gossypol no longer causes infertility.

Warning

• Gossypol still does have toxins that decrease spermatogenesis and sperm motility in men. This is a topic that should be brought up with fertility doctors, because cottonseed oil is a very commonly used ingredient in many foods.