Healthy tips for cooking oil selection

There are two important sources of our daily edible oil namely the plant oil and animal oil. In general, animal oils contain animal fats which are from the saturated type of fats and usually come in solid form at room temperature. On the other hand, plant oils such as olive oil and canola oil are sources of unsaturated fats. Plant oils are generally rich in monounsaturated fatty acids whereas soybean oil, peanut oil and fish oil contain the polyunsaturated fatty acids. Unsaturated fatty acids are usually in liquid form at room temperature.

Cooking oils with more saturated fatty acids such those made by animal fat (butter, lard, etc) and some plants like coconut, palm, are more stable when subject to high temperature. However these type of cooking oils tend to cause the increase of bad cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) level in our blood, which is harmful to us and may lead to various cardiovascular diseases.

Plant oils with more polyunsaturated fatty acids content are usually considered to be healthier. They are rich in "linoleic acid", a type of fatty acid that unable to produce by our body but is an important element to help reducing the bad cholesterol in the blood and maintain the level of good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein cholesterol) as well as lower the total blood cholesterol level. However the main drawback of this type of fatty acid is that it is susceptible to oxidation and tend to produce free radicals when it is subjected to high temperature. High temperature will trigger the polymerization of this fatty acid, increase its viscosity and change it to darker color, and finally become harmful to our body.

We often see some vegetable cooking oils labeled as "Cholesterol Free" and those are actually quite misleading. The fact is there should not be any cholesterol content in cooking oil, but it is the effect of the saturated or unsaturated fatty acids that affects the cholesterol level in our body. The correct way to select a cooking oil should be basing on how much the content of saturated or unsaturated fatty acid in the bottle of cooking oil instead of whether it is "Cholesterol Free".

Selection of cooking oil is a very important part in our daily food preparation. The Smoke Point of cooking oil is one of the key factors to be considered, and it varies from one type to another. The Smoke point is referring to the temperature at the point where the cooking oil starts to break down to free fatty acids and become harmful to our body. Sunflower oil, olive oil and canola oil have lower smoke point and tend to deteriorate in quality if it is heated more than 100 degree C. On the hands, palm oil, coconut oil and lard have higher smoke point which make them more suitable to be used for high temperature frying and deep-fried purposes.

Below are some informations about cooking oil selection for your reference:

1. Make sure to control the cooking temperature to prevent over-heating of the food and cooking oil,as it will cause the deterioration of the food nutrition as well as the degrading of the cooking oil.

2. When preparing to fry, it is important to make sure that the ingredients involved are drying properly to reduce the water content. This is to reduce the amount of smoke generated when the water get contacted with the heated oil hence to decrease lipid oxidation during frying.

3. If the color of oils become darker than usual and more viscous after they are used for frying, it means that the oil has degraded and it is advisable to discard them.

4. It is recommended to use high saturated oil such as palm oil, coconut oil or lard, if the food preparation process involved high-temperature frying or deep-fried.

5. It is important to make sure the storage of cooking oil does not directly expose to sunlight, as the heat from sunlight tend to deteriorate the quality or degrade the cooking oil, especially those stored in transparent bottles.

Many people try to look for the healthiest combination of fatty acids in their daily used edible oil. It is rather difficult to find the best edible oil in the market that would suit you. However with the right selection of cooking oil in accordance with your food preparation method, it will help you to enjoy your food in a healthier way.

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