Cooking oils can benefit your health, from your heart to your cholesterol, or be detrimental to your health by adding fat and bad cholesterol. It all depends on your oil selection. Go for quality when it comes to edible oils because they are low in unhealthy fats and high in healthy, monounsaturated fats. Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils contain harmful trans fats. Carefully check the labels of oils and opt for virgin or extra-virgin options that nourish your body with healthy fatty acids.
Healthy Oil Options
Extra-virgin oils are healthy to cook in because they are from the first pressing and provide healthy fatty acids. The smoke point of oils is also a significant factor when making your selection for cooking. When oils have low smoke points they can oxidize quickly, which means they lose their healthful properties from high heat temperatures. Generally the less refined the oil is, the higher its smoke point. Healthy cooking oils with high smoke points include virgin or extra-virgin options of almond, avocado, hazelnut and high-oleic sunflower oils. Healthy oils with medium-high smoke points include virgin or extra-virgin versions of olive, canola, grapeseed and macadamia nut oils.
Benefits of Healthy Oils
Healthy oils such as extra-virgin olive oil provide monounsaturated fat, which can benefit cholesterol levels and heart health. Healthy oils can also supply your body with omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, essential fatty acids your body has to derive from dietary sources because it cannot produce them on its own. Healthy unsaturated fats in oils also act as lubricants to your digestive system. These fats aid absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Your skin and hair benefit from healthy fats in oils as well.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is 92-percent saturated fats, but these saturated fats are unique in that they are medium-chain triglycerides rather than unhealthy, long-chain triglycerides found in animal fats. Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., explains in his book "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth" that medium-chain fatty acids are particularly healthy because the body uses them directly as energy rather than storing them as fat. Lauric acid, the predominant medium-chain triglyceride in coconut oil, has many health benefits, such as antibacterial and antiviral properties. Make sure to choose virgin or extra-virgin coconut oil to cook with for optimal health benefits.
Warning
Inexpensive cooking oils are generally highly refined and proccessed through hydrogenation. Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils contain trans fat such as some low-priced vegetable oils. Check the ingredients on food labels to make sure they don't contain hydrogenated oils. Foods that commonly contain unhealthy, hydrogenated oils include many shortenings, margarines, commercial baked goods such as cookies and crackers, french fries and doughnuts. MayoClinic warns that trans fats pose double the risk on your health because not only do they raise your "bad" LDL cholesterol, they actually lower your "good" HDL cholesterol. This can lead to coronary artery disease as well as heart attack and stroke.
References
- MayoClinic: Trans Fat Double Trouble For Your Heart Health
- American Heart Association: Know Your Fats
- Cleveland Clinic; Heart-Healthy Cooking: Oils 101; Aug. 2009
- "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth"; Dr. Jonny Bowden; 2007; Pg. 301
- "Ceylon Medical Journal"; Coconut Fats; Amarasiri WA, Dissanayake AS.; June 2006
- The Diet Channel: A Guide to Healthy Cooking Oils
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