What the Fat!!

With so many cooking oils available out in the market, each one shouting out ‘I am healthy, buy me’, it becomes difficult to make a choice. And with cooking oils especially, where most of us don’t know what are we looking for, because all we know about oil is that it is bad and should not be consumed in excess. But without knowing the answers to puzzles like how much oil is bad, is there no health benefits of oil at all, it becomes further hard to make trade-offs between quality and price. Let me help you navigate through the trade-offs.

Before we analyze different kinds of oils available in the market, let’s understand the chemistry of cooking oils.

Oils are important souce of all kinds of Fats. Fats are needed in our body for various essential functions like -

• It helps in cell and nerve maintenance and is a great source of energy.
• It helps in keeping the body warm.
• It helps in digestion.
• It’s also involved in processes like blood clotting, wound healing and inflammation.
• It helps to absorb Vitamin A, Vitamin D and Vitamin E in our body.

In short, it “is” needed.

Whenever we talk about oils and Fat, one jargon term that pops up in every conversation is “Cholesterol”. What is it? Let’s understand.

Cholesterol is a chemical substance that our body needs to make cell membranes, hormones, vitamin D and other substances that help us digest foods. Liver usually makes all the cholesterol that our body needs. But if we have too much cholesterol in our blood, it can coagulate in our blood to form plaque which can then stick to the walls of arteries, making them narrow or even blocked and thus pose a high risk for heart disease and stroke.

Cholesterol can be categorised into -

HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) : It’s considered as a good cholesterol as it carries the cholesterol from other parts of our body back to our liver so that it can be disposed off from our body.

LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) : It’s a bad cholesterol as high LDL level leads to the build up of plaque in our arteries.

Now let’s move on the parameters that define the quality of oil -

1. Fat content : What type of Fat is present in the oil and how much, this plays a major role in the quality of oil. Different kinds of Fat that can be present in oil are -

• Saturated Fat — Saturated Fat raises your LDL (bad) cholesterol and high LDL increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. It can also cause weight gain. Though not proven, it is recommended to keep the intake of Saturated Fat low, especially, if you have heart disorders. For active lifestyle, it can be consumed for it’s benefits.
• Unsaturated Fat — Some of the most common types of Unsaturated Fat in oils are -
  a. TransFat — Also known as Trans-Fatty acids. Many clinical researches have proved that people consuming TransFat instead of any other Fat has significantly higher amount of LDL as compared to HDL. While other Fats increase both LDL and HDL proportionately. It’s usually considered as a harmful Fat.
  b. MUFA (Monounsaturated Fatty Acid) — It may lower your total cholesterol and LDL levels, but maintain your HDL level. It is good in improving the insulin levels and keeps blood sugar under control.
  c. PUFA (Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid) — Omega-3, Omega-6 and Omega-9 fatty acids are some of the types of PUFA present in oils.
  - Omega-3 fatty acids have high anti-inflammatory properties and they lower the risk of heart disease, promotes vision and boost brain health. They also promote healthy cells, alleviate depression and anxiety.
  - Omega-6 is needed to maintain cell wall integrity, but too much of it, can increase inflammation in the body.
  - Omega-9 is also considered good for health.

In short, PUFA and MUFA are better over Saturated Fat. Transfat is a big No.

2. Refined v/s Unrefined oil : Lots of edible oils available out in the market are processed/refined oils. It means the oil has undergone a chain of chemical processes to remove odour and flavour, to have a mild colour and to get a good shelf life and high smoking point.

The refining process includes bleaching, steam distillation, hydrogenation, etc.

Ideally, these processes should preserve the nutrients in oil and must not cause any chemical change in the oil, but that’s not quite what happens. And most of the time, the nutritional value of the oil is lost in this process. There are other disadvantages of refined oils like -

• Hydrogenation can lead to formation of trans fatty acids that are very harmful for our body.
• Also, there might be some residues of chemicals used for refining or their by products which can have adverse health effects.

But it’s not always true that refined oils are worse, you need to check the oil you are using what it actually contains. Most refined oils, which claims to be healthy, explicitly add the lost nutritional value.

On the other hand, Raw / Virgin / Cold Pressed / Expeller Pressed oil is the oil which is extracted out from the seeds without really using any kind of heat or chemicals and so, it retains the nutritional value of the seeds / raw oil.

Needless to say, Cold pressed oils have more nutritional benefits over the refined oils. Let’s move on to the other aspect.

3. Smoke point : It is the temperature at which an oil starts smoking, which usually is a sign that the oil is breaking down. And when oil breaks, it’s taste and quality degrades and some free radicals are also generated which are very harmful to the body.

So, for cooking, especially for deep fry, we should try using the oils that have high smoke point.

Considering all the above factors, let’s scrutinize some of the commonly used cooking oils in Indian kitchens -

Let’s also decode one of the claimed heart-healthy refined oil.

This is the composition chart of one of the refined oil which I bought. If you see, it has a good content of PUFA and MUFA, has no TransFat and also no Cholestrol. Additionally, it is mixed with Fat soluble vitamins — Vitamin A, Vitamin D and Vitamin K. While processing, it was also mixed with Oryzanol which is good for people with high cholesterol.

This oil, though it’s refined, but it’s good for health.

So, to answer that question if Refined Oil is always bad? The answer is No.
Some of the things that we get with refined oils are —

• They usually have higher smoke point than their raw version.
• Also, to neutralize the free radicals generated after breakdown, most of the good refined oils are mixed with antioxidants while processing, as the antioxidant properties of raw oil are usually lost while processing.
• And not just antioxidants, they can also be mixed with various nutrients and chemical compounds that are actually good for our health.

You can try analyzing the same for the refined oil you are using.

Ghee Controversy — In our Indian society, Ghee, especially Cow Ghee, is always considered good for health, but most researches claim differently. But is it actually good or bad for heath, still remains a controversial topic. Based on my exploration, here are the few things, we can definitely consider while consuming Ghee -

Cow ghee has many claimed benefits like -

• It contains Vitamin A, D, E and K.
• It is one of the highest source of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which helps in boosting immunity, maintaining a healthy liver and losing weight.
• It also helps in digestion and is good for bone development and strength.
• It’s also good for eyes and brain.
• And it’s also a great source of energy.

Ghee has always been glorified in Ayurveda for its benefits, but we should not forget that 62% of it is Saturated Fat. There is a drastic change in our lifestyle since then and no one can deny that. Now relying on outside food, ingesting chemically processed and artificial food, we have degraded the ability of our body to digest and metabolize Fat. And with all kinds of other toxins going in our body, we should limit our usage of not just Ghee, but also Total Fat intake.

Key rule for using Cow Ghee is -

• Totally avoid using Ghee, if you have any kind of heart disorder.
• If you don’t have an active lifestyle, reduce the usage of Ghee.
• If your intake of other Fats is already too much, avoid it.
• It is recommended to include Cow Ghee in diet of Kids because of it’s said benefits.

So, tune it as per your lifestyle and health conditions.

How much oil should one consume everyday?

Quoting from another article (https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/telangana/refined-oils-are-totally-safe-for-cooking/article25943889.ece)

This 30% of the total daily energy intake should come from dietary sources of oils and Fats. If an individual consumed 2,000 Kcal of energy per day, then 30% or 600 Kcal (equal to 65 grams) should come from total Fat (visible plus invisible intake). So, 30 g of visible oils was necessary to be consumed per day, which is roughly around 500ml per person per month.

WTF!!! Yeah, I was shocked too. Most of us should seriously cut down a lot on our oil consumption.

So, what should we use?
There is no perfect oil to use, though Olive oil looks the best option but they are heavy on pockets. Here is what I am going to use, you can find your own peace similarly :P

• Ghee for rotis and tempering dal, khichdi, etc.
• Butter for bread and as sides with stuffed parathas.
• Cold Pressed Mustard oil for cooking most vegetables and dals.
• Virgin Olive oil for salads, poha, frying parathas and vegetables where Mustard oil will not taste that good.
• Extra Light Virgin oil for deep frying. Usually, this is also expensive, but you can get a good deal somewhere online. I bought 5 ltr can for INR 1700.

Avoid re-using cooking oil for frying, as they turn rancid and increase the trans-fatty acids and free radicals which are extremely harmful for health.

And remember the most important thing is to optimize and balance the consumption and not omit it from your diet. You can start by being aware of what you eat and how much and moderation will happen eventually.