What Is The Best Cooking Oil for a Healthy Diet?
- There are at least seventeen different types of cooking oils available to consumers, according to Ir Qua Kiat Seng, a senior lecturer from Monash University in Malaysia.
- So how does one decide which cooking oil is best for health, once cultural palates are considered?
- In these days when consumers go down rabbit holes in search of answers, websites like SLURRP present superficial facts as though they are experts on the matter.
- Industry groups like FEDIOL from Europe, provide better information on what vegetable oils are best suited for which purpose, with indications of their nutritional values.
The problem for the average consumer is that traditional oils like olive oil are either too expensive, or do not meet the culinary requirements of traditional dishes, for most consumers.
Searching for the best cooking oil on the internet can only be described as going down rabbit holes. Take the case of trans fats. The World Health Organization had called for its elimination in human foods by 2023. This report from Pan American Health Organization shows that five billion people are still exposed to the deadly edible oil.
Health experts in Malaysia had warned about trans fats as early as 2013 in a report on trans-fatty acids published in the Malaysian Journal of Nutrition. Nutritional health experts including Dr Siow Lee Fong, said ten years later, that it was better for food containing trans-fat to be removed from the market instead of leaving it to consumers to decide what was best for them.
This would follow the actions of Thailand and Singapore, which have banned trans-fats to protect public health. Malaysia has not banned trans-fats but the reason for not following World Health Organization recommendations could be attributed to the widespread use of palm oil in food.
According to this report from Dr. Helmy Hazmi, on The Evils of Trans-Fats:
A very recent study concluded that food in Malaysia generally has low amount of trans fat based on this guideline. The reason for this might be due to the extensive use of palm oil in the Malaysian cooking method. Palm oil is stable enough to prevent the formation of trans fat during food production.
These are issues that are obviously beyond the realm of the average consumer where the cost of cooking oil and how it tastes, are primary concerns.
Ir. Qua Kiat Seng, dove deep into the question of what cooking oil is best for the average consumer, with an acknowledgement of culinary demands.
Ir Qua has a wealth of knowledge from his professional career working for multinational companies around the world and is on a mission to better educate consumers on the best cooking oil, starting with consumers in Malaysia.
His personal project to share his wealth of information on vegetable oils outside of the lecture hall, to the average Malaysian consumer is essential for the average consumer to understand what is the best cooking oil.
In this article, we present the key points made by Ir Qua, to the Malaysian consumer.
Environmental Concerns on Calories
In addressing human health and vegetable oils, he went straight to the point and addressed environmental concerns.
“World population growth whilst still rapid is slowing down. Nonetheless whatever vegetable oils is produced, it is consumed. In high-income countries there is overconsumption and in low-income countries there is underconsumption of oils and fats.
Three quarters of our agricultural land is used for livestock and a quarter for crops. Yet livestock provide only 18% of our calorie supply and only 37% of our protein supply. Any agriculture activity will threaten biodiversity”
The webinar then goes on to introduce historical beginnings of cooking oils.
"It is useful to divide oils and fats into historical oils and the more recent mass industrial oils. Historical vegetable oils come from trees that live from 25 to 500 years and are flavourful. Mass industrial oils are from bushes that are annual crops, remain liquid even in the cold and are bland or tasteless/odourless.
Ir Qua goes on to explain the good and bad points with an introduction to oleochemistry, a field that he is an expert on.
"Oleochemistry is the study of oils and fats. Understanding this can help us in our choice of cooking oils.
A simplified approach divides the types of fats into 4 viz polyunsaturated fats (PUFA,) monounsaturated fats (MUFA,) saturated fats (SAFA) and trans fatty acids (TFA).
Dietary fats are essential to give our body energy and to support cell function as well as many other functions
Before fat can be absorbed into the body it has to be broken down by pancreatic enzymes into a 2-monoglyceride. Palm olein has 75% MUFA in the sn-2 position when compared to olive oil making it the tropical equivalent of olive oil
Oils and fats that contain high amounts of linoleic acid, an Omega-6 fatty, acid (the blue bars) should be avoided as they may contribute to health problems, including inflammation, heart disease, cancer and insulin resistance. This chart is an important reference for choosing the right cooking oil."
Culinary Demands. PUFA, MUFA or SAFA and their relation to human health may be too much for the average consumer to bother with. However, the chart on smoke point should be noted by health conscious consumers. Numerous studies have been done on the smoke point of cooking oils and their possible impact on human health.
This study on cooking oil fumes, for example, reported that “Cooking oil fume contains >200 kinds of harmful gases. Exposure to cooking oil fumes is related to the high mortality rate of lung cancer among Chinese women.”
Other studies on Repeatedly Heated Cooking Oils (RCO) reported that “RCO and its cooking fumes were found to enhance the incidence of aberrant cells, including breaks, fragments, exchanges and multiple chromosomal damages and micronuclei in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the large consumption of RCO has been associated with a number of malignancies, including lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.
In his conclusion, Ir Qua offered his personal choices of cooking oils. Palm olein (palm oil) is favored for its natural properties but he uses extra virgin olive oil and ghee/ butter into a reasonable mix that meets both taste and health demands.
He has published his most recent webinar on YouTube. The twelve minute long video is well worth the time to try and understand, what is the best cooking oil. Internet "experts" on "healthy cooking oils" should watch the video before writing on what is the best cooking oil for human health.
Published October 2023. CSPO Watch
Other studies on Repeatedly Heated Cooking Oils (RCO) reported that “RCO and its cooking fumes were found to enhance the incidence of aberrant cells, including breaks, fragments, exchanges and multiple chromosomal damages and micronuclei in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the large consumption of RCO has been associated with a number of malignancies, including lung, colorectal, breast, and prostate cancers.
In his conclusion, Ir Qua offered his personal choices of cooking oils. Palm olein (palm oil) is favored for its natural properties but he uses extra virgin olive oil and ghee/ butter into a reasonable mix that meets both taste and health demands.
He has published his most recent webinar on YouTube. The twelve minute long video is well worth the time to try and understand, what is the best cooking oil. Internet "experts" on "healthy cooking oils" should watch the video before writing on what is the best cooking oil for human health.
Published October 2023. CSPO Watch
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