Check the oil listed on a can of sardines (or any tinned fish): olive oil or water over sunflower oil is a fine preference if you want to cut back on heavily refined oils — but that choice alone won't cause bloating or age your skin.

noli's read

The creator claims sunflower oil in canned sardines is "pro-inflammatory," oxidizes inside the body, and causes bloating, joint pain, and skin aging. Meta-analyses of controlled trials on linoleic acid show no rise in inflammatory markers (PMID 28752873, 22889633): the causal chain described has no support. Canned oil also isn't subjected to the repeated high-heat frying cycles that generate the toxic aldehydes documented elsewhere — the "oxidizing inside you" mechanism doesn't match the actual product. Picking olive-oil-packed sardines is a defensible taste preference, just not for the danger reason given.

the sources

No named source held this one up — that absence is part of the verdict.