If any of you spend alot of time in the kitchen cooking, this post may be informative for you. The ones who love to cook with oils, you may find the following information to be 'heart-healthy' and beneficial. If you have been cooking and eating foods most of your life laden with commercial vegetable oils, it is time to realize the truth about cooking oils.
For years, we have been hardwired and informed by medias such as newspapers, health and food magazines, friends, and even dietitians and nutritionists, to cook foods with commercial vegetable oils. No? Try walk down the alley of any supermarket, you will find a whole list of commercial vegetable oils such as peanut oil, soybean oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, grapeseed oil, cottonseed oil, etc. Most people are still using these vegetable oils for cooking, at home, restaurants, and of course, road side hawkers stalls. Reason? It's simple, huge profits in cooking oil industry especially soybean and corn. It's all about money!
Let's take India for example. A nation who has been suffering from cardiovascular/heart disease for decades. Cardiovascular disease is the no.1 leading cause of death in India. Some sources from the media blame it on genetics, some blame it in diet, basically we have numerous contradicting factors. Which is correct? Is it the genes? Diet? Lifetysle? Most people, tend to blame their health on genetic. It's so simple to point finger on our genes and give up on exercise, diet, nutrition, sleep wake cycles and other lifestyle factors.
Human Genome project, proved that our genes has only approximately 5% contribution of our health. Minority of people may have up to 10%, and it is obvious that each of us has huge control over our own health, more then 90%. As most people are often full of excuses, it is time to stop giving excuses and take control of your health, your life. It is so easy to just blame on the genes and eat all you want and sit on the couch all day long without adequate physical movement. Aint it?
Let's go back to India. Anyone knows why India has such a skyrocket high rates of cardiovascular disease? Do you know how they cook their foods regularly? Yes, for decades, since commercial vegetable oils is commercialized, people in India (and also other nations) are using these oxidized free radicals vegetable oils to cook their foods. If any of you ever consume Indian cuisines before, you will realize most of the cooked foods are laden with vegetable oils.
In my country too, the mamak stalls foods are almost entirely cooked with commercial vegetable oils. Malaysia too, the leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. We have been told that vegetable oils are 'heart healthy' and contains health fats such as Omega 3, 6 and even 9 and it has antioxidants. Even the conventional dieticians and nutritionists in most countries including Malaysia, said it is alright for the public to consume foods such as mee goreng (fried noodles), nasi lemak, etc. Wonder why Malaysia is one of the most obese nations in Asia?
High Cardiovascular Disease rates in India
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/premature-deaths-by-noncommunicable-disease-high-in-india-who/article2452886.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/coronary-artery-disease-killer-no1-in-india/article2932229.ece
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/4/582.long
Let's take India for example. A nation who has been suffering from cardiovascular/heart disease for decades. Cardiovascular disease is the no.1 leading cause of death in India. Some sources from the media blame it on genetics, some blame it in diet, basically we have numerous contradicting factors. Which is correct? Is it the genes? Diet? Lifetysle? Most people, tend to blame their health on genetic. It's so simple to point finger on our genes and give up on exercise, diet, nutrition, sleep wake cycles and other lifestyle factors.
Human Genome project, proved that our genes has only approximately 5% contribution of our health. Minority of people may have up to 10%, and it is obvious that each of us has huge control over our own health, more then 90%. As most people are often full of excuses, it is time to stop giving excuses and take control of your health, your life. It is so easy to just blame on the genes and eat all you want and sit on the couch all day long without adequate physical movement. Aint it?
Let's go back to India. Anyone knows why India has such a skyrocket high rates of cardiovascular disease? Do you know how they cook their foods regularly? Yes, for decades, since commercial vegetable oils is commercialized, people in India (and also other nations) are using these oxidized free radicals vegetable oils to cook their foods. If any of you ever consume Indian cuisines before, you will realize most of the cooked foods are laden with vegetable oils.
In my country too, the mamak stalls foods are almost entirely cooked with commercial vegetable oils. Malaysia too, the leading cause of death is cardiovascular disease. We have been told that vegetable oils are 'heart healthy' and contains health fats such as Omega 3, 6 and even 9 and it has antioxidants. Even the conventional dieticians and nutritionists in most countries including Malaysia, said it is alright for the public to consume foods such as mee goreng (fried noodles), nasi lemak, etc. Wonder why Malaysia is one of the most obese nations in Asia?
High Cardiovascular Disease rates in India
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/premature-deaths-by-noncommunicable-disease-high-in-india-who/article2452886.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/coronary-artery-disease-killer-no1-in-india/article2932229.ece
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/4/582.long
References:
http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/integrative-medicine/health-topics/healthy-cooking-oils.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3226610/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1993956/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15333157/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3541024/
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| PUFAs content in oils. Avoid using oils which has more then 20% for heated cooking, the lower the better. |
"Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA):
PUFAs are easily oxidized by oxygen and heat, and form much higher amounts of toxic lipid peroxides than saturated or monounsaturated oils. These lipid peroxides cause oxidative damage, and their intake needs to be minimized. Some oils, such as canola and perilla, are high in alpha linolenic acid, which when heated, can lead to the formation of carcinogens and mutagens.
Oils high in PUFAs have to be manufactured, transported, and stored very carefully to be safe for eating. Ideally, PUFAs should be kept air-tight/oxygen-free and cold. PUFAs are not generally bad for you unless they are oxidized. All PUFAs that have been cooked with are oxidized and therefore bad.
PUFAs are considered damaged if at any stage in the manufacturing or transport and handling or use the oil has been exposed to excessive oxygen or heat. The same goes for nuts or seeds with a high PUFA content, although they are slightly more self-protected than naked oils.
Omega 3 and omega 6 oils are PUFAs. Many omega 3 oils have very beneficial effects, provided they are undamaged and handled very carefully, minimizing exposure to air and light and heat. For example, evening primrose oil is a commonly used supplement. Keep it in the fridge, and make sure it was not processed with heat.
Omega 6 oils are found abundantly in corn, soy, canola, sunflower, safflower and other commercially used cooking oils. The problem is that people are consuming too much of these oils, thus throwing off their omega 3 to omega 6 ratio. The proper balance is fats in a body is important, as if our fat balance is off, cell membranes and other cellular processes do not function quite as well. People today eat way too much omega 6 oils. The ideal ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 is about 1:4.
Part of the problem with commercial meats is that the animals are fed corn or soy, which not only are bad because they are GMO, but also bad because the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 is imbalanced, and there is thus too much omega 6 and too little omega 3 in the resulting meat. People buying meat should look not only for organic, but also for free range."
** Article extracted from University of Kansas Medical Center.
http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/integrative-medicine
In a nutshell:
During processing and extraction of oils from these vegetables, high heat temperature is used which causes oxidation of the fats, thus transfat. Not to mention if we further use these commercial cooking oils to cook foods with high temperature, stir fry, deep fried, etc. It will then progress from bad to worst, further, elevating a much higher inflammation, carcinogens and levels of transfat.
Ideal oils/fats for cooking:
- Coconut oil (smoke point 450 degrees)
- Red Palm Oil (taken from the fruit)
- Lard
- Ghee
- Animal fats (free range, organic, antibiotic free)
- Butter (Preferably organic)
- Avocado oil (smoke point 510 degrees)
- Almond Oil (smoke point 450-490 degrees)
Oils to avoid at all cost for cooking: (Avoid oils which is high in PUFAs)
- Soybean Oil
- Hemp Oil
- SafflowerOil
- Sunflower Oil
- Peanut Oil
- Corn Oil
- Canola Oil
- Cottonseed Oil
- Grapeseed Oil
- Perilla Oil
Lard oil is better? What about palm oil?
ReplyDeleteMost commercial so called palm oils are low in quality and are highly processed laden with chemicals and preservatives. Ideally, shop for red palm oil (from fruit), organically grown, minimal processing. Meanwhile, lard has been used in many countries generations back (during our great grandparents using animal fats) for cooking. Animal fats are a stable form of saturated fat, which has very low amount of oxidized fatty acids aka trans fat. The goal here is use oils which is very low in PUFAs, and cook with low temperature using glass utensils.
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