i might be wrong about this but since sesame has been cultivated for seven thousand years throughout the middle east and india i am guessing that seed oils generically are not a significant part of the cause, though i'm not aware of a traditional diet that gets the majority of its calories from sesame oil (like the hadza with honey or some inuit diets with meat)
but there are lots of other seed oils that have become much more popular in the last half-century that are more plausible suspects, like cottonseed oil, sunflower seed oil, and safflower oil
i think rapeseed oil is probably not it because its popularity is more recent
It is the fat profile of seed oils that is the problem, at least in my investigations. We are consuming certain fats in very high quantities now that we never did historically.
it's possible, but it seems a bit far-fetched, given the enormous variety of fats used in different traditional diets that didn't cause obesity epidemics
there was a lot of excitement about ten years ago that the ratio of n-6 unsaturated fats to n-3 unsaturated fats might be the key, but that doesn't seem to have panned out
It should be noted that sesame is a top ten allergen in the US and top three in Israel (where it is very common) and so don’t rush out to replace all your oils with sesame
it also has a strong flavor and a low smoke point, so hopefully nobody would; it would make a terrible replacement for olive oil, butter, grapeseed oil, lard, aceite de dende, sunflower oil, etc.
the fact that somebody else might be allergic to it doesn't seem like a major consideration for whether i should cook with it though
but there are lots of other seed oils that have become much more popular in the last half-century that are more plausible suspects, like cottonseed oil, sunflower seed oil, and safflower oil
i think rapeseed oil is probably not it because its popularity is more recent