Nowadays, the most popular type of oil used for cooking is vegetable oil, including sunflower, corn and soybean oil. Since butter and animal fats were announced to be unhealthy, the greater part of consumer preferred vegetable oil. However, recent data reveals that this kind of fat is much more harmful than it was supposed to be before.
During several decades, butter, lard and other saturated fats, which were widely used previously, were considered to be unhealthy. Nevertheless, the latest research has revealed, that so called unsaturated fats, that is to say vegetable oils, are not the best option. The point is that the heating of these oils causes some chemical reactions, which results in the emission of toxic compounds – aldehydes.
It is generally accepted that aldehydes are making very harmful impact on human body. For instance, this compound leads to a number of maladies, such as cancer and heart disease. Moreover, aldehydes make an exceedingly negative impact on the brain activity. They cause such disorders as dementia or dyslexia.
In this case, professor John Stein, Oxford's emeritus professor of neuroscience, notes that this threat is quite serious. The point is that vegetable oils contain omega 6, the type of fatty acid. This compound when consumed replaces another acid, omega 3, which is vitally for human health and brain activity. Therefore, professor assures that omega 6 contributes to a number of mental diseases.
It is also curious that in U.S., for instance, one of the most widespread illness is directly connected to the consumption of vegetable oils. The point is that several decades ago the producers of processed food decided to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated ones. This is about soybean oil.
As a result, the consumption of soybean oil in United States has reached 60 per cent of general oil consumption. However, the recent studies have revealed that soybean oil contributes to 25 per cent gain of weight. Since the use of this kind of oil has been up significantly during several decades, the rate of obesity has also increased.
In this context, vegetable oils should be replaced with other fats. For instance, coconut oil is considered to be one of the least harmful. The results of recent tests reveal that this kind of oil contains the lowest level of toxic chemical compounds. In addition, olive oil along with butter and lard can be a good option too. These kinds of fat produce three times less aldehydes when being heated in comparison with vegetable oils.
However, it is important to know which oil or fat to choose for different types of frying. For example, olive oil is a good choice for light frying. It is also can be used for dressing, drizzling and baking. Additionally, there are several types of olive oil. Extra-virgin oil is of the highest quality and has specific flavor and taste; therefore, it is not recommended to be used for frying. However, it is used for dressing and drizzling. Rapeseed oil is also suitable for light frying. At the same time, animal fats, such as lard, goose, duck or ghee fat can be used for high-temperature frying.
In summary, vegetable oils, which are the most popular at present, turned out to be not that useful as they were supposed to be before. The results of recent studies reveals that they produce toxic chemical compounds while being heated. In this case, vegetable oils should be replaced with other types of fats. For instance, coconut, rapeseed and olive oils as well as animal fats and butter are appropriate options.
