Which is the best cooking oil for reducing cholesterol, weight loss and health? Healthy Cooking Oils?
- Fat is a high calorie food. There are 9 calories in each gram of fat.
- Fat contains more than twice the number of calories in protein or carbohydrates.
- From a weight loss viewpoint, all fats are equally 'bad' (same calorie-content). All vegetable oils contain 100% fat. Each tablespoon of vegetable oil contains 14 grams of fat and 125 calories.
- Choose cold-pressed unrefined vegetable oils such as sesame, sunflower or safflower for salad dressing
- Use extra-virgin olive oil for cooking.
- Avoid heating oils to high temperatures, beyond their smoking point.
- Do not use once used oil for frying again and again as it becomes carcinogenic. Never add fresh oil to the fried oil. The left over oil can be used in other preparations but should not be reused for frying.
- Minimize use of oils rich in saturated fats.
- Avoid hydrogenated oils (trans-fatty acids). Use unhydrogenated margarines.
- Avoid coconut and palm oil.
- It is best to reduce your intake of high-fat, calorie-dense foods like butter (80 per cent fat), mayonnaise (75-80 per cent fat) and coconut oil (100 per cent fat)
- For better health, choose oils/fats that are low in saturated fat.
- Store oil in an airtight container at a dark place away from light.
For better health, choose oils/fats that are low in saturated fat & high in monounsaturated fat. The follwoiing table lists various oils in decreasing order of monounsaturated fat content.
Based on the above, the following may be recommended with regard to the best cooking oil:
For deep frying foods: The best oils are those with a high smoke point such as canola oil, corn oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil. The smoke point of unrefined oil is lower than the values mentioned in the above table.
For stir-frying and salad dressing: any oil low in saturated fat like canola oil, corn oil, or flax seed oil, olive oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil and walnut oil.
Oils to avoid: coconut oil, palm oil, butter, hard margarine.
There are conflicting reports about the health benefits or risks of coconut oil.
Types of Olive Oil
There are generally three types of olive oil, but each having the same number of calories as in other oils.
- Extra Virgin: This type of olive oil is the strongest in flavor and aroma. This oil is made from olives immediately after harvest and processed at room temperature. These oils are called cold pressed as they are produced by mechanically squeezing the oil under pressure.
The flavour of extra virgin olive oil varies depending on the place where it has been grown and the type of olives. - Extra Light: This type of olive oil is a refined oil that is light in colour, odour and taste.
- Olive Oil: This type of olive oil is mild in flavor and is a blend of refined oil and some virgin oil. This oil is mostly used around the world.
Health Benefits of Benefits
The olive oil may be beneficial in preventing conditions related to coronary disease, stroke and certain types of cancers.
Storing of Virgin Olive Oil
A study by researcher Antonella Baiano of the University of Foggia in Italy and published in the Journal of Food Science, (March 2009) has revealed that after 3 months of storage, the antioxidant activity in the oil remained unchanged, but antioxidants decreased by about 40% after six months.
The study recommends consumers to store extra virgin olive oil in small glass bottles (one liter maximum because the oxygen contained in the headspace determines its oxidation), in a dark location, at a temperature lower than 20-250C (68-770F).
Misinformation on Canola Oil
Some of the information on the Internet states on canola oil is that it causes many diseases like joint pain, gum disease, constipation, heart disease, hearing loss, etc. Whereas the truth is that canola oil contains essential fatty acids that our body cannot make on its own. The long chain unsaturated fat in canola oil has been proven beneficial to our health.
Canola oil is Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed (LEAR) oil which contains less than 1 percent erucic acid. It was developed in Canada during the late 1960s - 1970s using hybrid propagation techniques involving black mustard, leaf mustard, and turnip rapeseed plants.
