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COOKING METHODS, OILS & TRANSFATS
2) Transfats:
The fats you really need to avoid are the transfats. Transfats are formed when hydrogen is added to vegetable oils during food processing in order to make it solidify. This process, known as hydrogenation, makes fats less likely to spoil, so foods stay fresh longer, have a longer shelf life and also have a less greasy feel. The end result of the hydrogenation process is a completely unnatural fat that causes dysfunction and chaos in your body on a cellular level.
Vanaspathi and Margarine are the main sources of transfats and are preferred by the food industry as they prolong the shelf life of food products and are cheap.
Transfats however have very detrimental health effects including greatly increasing risk for cardiovascular disease and increased insulin resistance. Hence Transfats should be avoided, something difficult to do as they are ubiquitous in processed foods (constituting over 60% of the fat in them).
Denmark, the first of many countries, legislated the limit of Transfats to 2 percent of total fat in all food items and noted an average reduction of over 14 percent deaths from cardiovascular disease per 100,000 populations per year thereafter. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the energy intake from Transfats should be less than 1 percent. It is better that you should AVOID consumption of all hydrogenated oils or TRANSFATS nor use them for cooking.
Reusing of cooking oils more than two to three times or if the oil is used even once for more than two hours, leads to hydrolysis of oils and should not be used for cooking thereafter.
3) Cooking Oils:
Dietary fats and the right cooking oils help stabilize your blood sugar levels.
Cooking oil is a basic and essential ingredient in every kitchen. To choose the right one, look at the properties of each and select those that seem best for the type of cooking you would be doing. It may also be better to select an alternate and change between them to avoid using only one oil all the time.
Properties of cooking oils:
| COOKING OIL | SFA
(%) |
MUFA
(%) |
PUFA
(%) |
ω-3 (%) |
ω-6 ω-9
(%) (%) |
ω-3:6 RATIO | SMOKE POINT | |
| Almond Oil | 8.2 | 69.9 | 26.0 | 0 | 17.4 69.4 | Not a source of ω-3 | 216°C | |
| Butter, Salted | 63.3 | 25.9 | 3.8 | 0.4 | 2.7 20.9 | 1:6.9 | 121- 149°C | |
| #Canola Oil | 7.4 | 63.3 | 28.1 | 9.1 | 18.6 61.7 | 1:2.0 | 204°C | |
| *Coconut Oil Extra virgin | 86.5 | 5.8 | 1.8 | 0 | 1.8 5.8 | Not a source of ω-3 | 177°C | |
| #Corn Oil – refined | 12.9 | 27.6 | 54.7 | 1.2 | 53.2 27.3 | 1:45.8 | 232°C | |
| #Cottonseed Oil | 25.9 | 17.8 | 51.9 | 0.2 | 51.5 17 | 1:3.5 | 216°C | |
| Flaxseed Oil, Cold-pressed | 9 | 18.4 | 67.9 | 53.4 | 14.3 | 18.3 | 3.7:1 | 107°C |
| **Ghee – Clarified butter | 62.2 | 30.0 | 3.0 | 1.5 | 2.3 | 25.2 | 1:1.5 | 252°C |
| Macadamia Oil | 16.1 | 80.0 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 56.4 | 1:3.2 | 210°C |
| ***Mustard Oil | 11.6 | 59.2 | 21.2 | 5.9 | 15.3 | 11.6 | 1:2.6 | 254°C |
| ****Olive Oil – Extra virgin | 13.8 | 73 | 10.5 | 0.8 | 9.8 | 71.3 | 1:12.8 | 191°C |
| Palm Oil | 49.3 | 37 | 9.3 | 0.2 | 9.1 | 36.6 | 1:45.5 | 235°C |
| Peanut / Ground Oil – refined | 16.9 | 46.2 | 32 | 0 | 32 | 44.8 | Not a source of ω-3 | 232°C |
| Rice Bran Oil | 19.7 | 39.3 | 35 | 1.6 | 33.4 | 39.1 | 1:20.9 | 254°C |
| #Safflower Oil, refined | 7.5 | 12.8 | 75.2 | 0.1 | 12.7 | 74.7 | 1:127 | 266°C |
| #Sesame Oil light semi refined | 14.2 | 39.7 | 41.7 | 0.3 | 41.3 | 39.3 | 1:131 | 232°C |
| #Soybean Oil, Refined | 15.3 | 22.7 | 57.3 | 6.5 | 50.1 | 22.6 | 1:7.7 | 238°C |
| #Sunflower Oil, refined | 10.1 | 45.4 | 40.1 | 0.2 | 39.8 | 45.3 | 1:199 | 232°C |
Percentages calculated are relative to the total lipid found in 100 gms of the fat or oil and should be taken as reasonably indicative approximations as the climate they are grown in and the different extractions and refining methods may give somewhat different percentages.