Why Is Mineral Oil Harmful?

The form of mineral oil used in cosmetics and the food industry is nontoxic, and is easily eliminated from the body. However, studies from the middle of last century reveal that it is still a harmful substance.

Uses

• Tin baking sheets and dough cutters sometimes have a coating of mineral oil.

  The nontoxic chemical fraction of mineral oil is common in skin lotions, and in the food and drug industry. Some consumers use it as a laxative. According to a 1970 joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), unsuspecting consumers can ingest mineral oil from processed foods, as well as oiled baking tin trays and dough cutters.

Vitamin Depletion

• MIneral oil can deplete beta-carotene, which is an essential antioxidant.

  Citing decades-old studies, the FAO/WHO commission noted that although the human body eliminates food-grade mineral oil almost completely, the excreted oil can carry away fat-soluble nutrients like carotene; essential fatty acids; vitamins A, E, and K; and vitamin D, which is essential in calcium absorption.

Depletion of Bone Minerals

• Mineral oil causes bone loss.

  A widely cited study on animals, published in the April 1940 issue of "Journal of Nutrition," shows that mineral oil hampers bone formation, even when the test subject receives vitamin D from ultraviolet radiation rather than food. The authors concluded that mineral oil interferes with the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, apart from its known effect of depleting vitamin D in the intestines.