The conventional medical community has long promoted the idea that certain vegetable oils are “heart healthy.” These are seed oils that include sunflower, canola, corn, grape seed, safflower, soybean oils. They are only a very recent addition to the human diet, and a growing body of research indicates that they are not good for cardiovascular health.
After being told for so long that they are good for heart health, people complied and started consuming more and more vegetable oils. The result: According to a 2019 study by the American Heart Association, 48 percent of Americans suffer from cardiovascular disease.
The campaign for increased consumption of “heart-healthy” vegetable oils is an extension of the “heart diet hypothesis” first proposed by physiologist Ancel Keys in the 1950s. Based on low-quality research riddled with methodological flaws, Keys has falsely concluded that dietary saturated fat and cholesterol cause cardiovascular disease and should therefore be avoided. Instead, he recommended that people replace the previously used saturated fats, animal fats, with vegetable oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids, derived from cottonseed, corn, canola, safflower, and soybeans.
Interestingly, Keys’ recommendations aligned with the growing oilseed industry, which was looking for a way to use the surplus of oilseeds rich in omega-6 fatty acids. Processing the seeds into a cooking oil provided a convenient and profitable way to use agricultural surplus. A generous cash infusion from Procter & Gamble, makers of the cottonseed oil-based Crisco vegetable shortening, to the American Heart Association in the 1940s later led to wholesale medical endorsement of vegetable oils as “heart healthy.” The disinformation campaign snowballed from there, leaving us with the distorted advice to consume highly processed, industrialized vegetable oils.
This hypothesis has been circulating more and more online in recent years, see the sources at the bottom of the article. Conspiracy theory? Time and facts will tell.
Meanwhile, more and more voices say that omega 6 fatty acids consumed in excess facilitate the development of many conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. And vegetable oils contain far too much omega 6 compared to omega 3, which protects the body from these diseases.
How many types of fats are there?
Dietary fats are of two types: saturated (SFA) and unsaturated, and unsaturated are also of two types: monounsaturated (MUFA) and polyunsaturated (PUFA). The human body can produce saturated fats and some of the unsaturated ones, but a certain part must be taken from the diet, and for this reason they are called “essential fatty acids”. We need all 3 types of fat in our diet, because fat is necessary both in the production of fuel for the body and in the structure of cells.
There are other types of fat in the modern diet: trans fats and hydrogenated fats. If regarding the 3 types of fats above, opinions are divided as to whether and in what quantity to consume them, regarding trans and hydrogenated fats, the opinions are unanimous in recent years: they should be completely excluded from the diet! But they are abundant in the processed foods on store shelves.
There is no one oil or other fat used for cooking food that contains exclusively one of the 3 types, but is made up, in varying proportions, of all of them.
What are vegetable oils?
Vegetable oils is a term used to refer to industrially refined oils, usually from seeds, obtained by chemical methods, with the help of solvents, discolored for appearance, which are usually sold in cheap, thin plastic bottles. They no longer have the properties of the seeds from which they were obtained, they are emptied of vitamins and minerals, and the fats are unbalanced and oxidized. Although they are recommended for frying, at a temperature higher than 170 degrees Celsius they become even more toxic.
Refined sunflower oil. This oil is the most used in Romania. It belongs to the category of unbalanced omega 6-omega 3 oils, which at temperatures higher than 170 degrees Celsius release carcinogenic substances, such as acrolein and acrylamide. Refined sunflower oil, in addition to being thermally sensitive, is also sensitive to light, an aspect also recognized by the manufacturers through the mention displayed on the label “Keep in a dry, cool place and away from light”. However, the refined sunflower oils are packed in transparent plastic bottles, and in the sales premises they are exposed to strong artificial light, which leads to the triggering of oxidative processes in the respective packaging and, implicitly, to a denaturation of the oils.
Unrefined oils
These oils are extracted from high-fat sources only by “non-chemical” methods, theoretically retaining the full value of the fruit or seed from which the oil was extracted. But it must be understood that these oils (so-called “virgin” and unrefined) are valuable if they are consumed cold or at most lightly heat-treated, as is the case of adding them to cooked food after the end of the heat preparation, when the contents are sufficiently cooled. Otherwise, fine components, “omega” oils, etc. are compromised. “Don’t fry in cold-pressed oil!” is a tip from a connoisseur.
What oils should we cook with?
Oils with a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids PUFA are unstable: to light, to heat, to contact with oxygen, to the passage of time. They go rancid quickly, they burn when we use them to prepare hot food, and the PUFA in industrial oils no longer have any beneficial properties. The PUFA in cold-pressed oils, in addition to instability, have another disadvantage: the imbalance between omega 6 and omega 3. Recommendations regarding their ratio vary between 3:1 and 5:1, although the ideal is 1:1. Oils of any kind have a much higher ratio.
And then how to consume polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are essential for health? It’s very simple: eat nuts, seeds, avocados, fatty fish, etc., whole, not in the form of oils. This is how we introduce PUFA into our body in the ideal form, unaltered and in perfect balance.
For hot cooking we should use solid fats at room temperature. These solid fats, consisting of a combination of saturated fat and MUFA monounsaturated fat, are stable and do not oxidize as easily at high temperatures. The nutritional quality of fried foods is not the subject of this article, theoretically we all know that frying is not indicated. But sometimes we want to eat a fried egg or put some fat on potatoes, which, even if we cook them in the oven, are still cooked at a high temperature.
You’ve seen in my recipes that I use poultry lard and coconut oil when I’m sauteing vegetables or making other hot cooked wonders. Lard is made up of SFA and MUFA, as is coconut oil. They are solid at room temperature and are a viable and affordable option for cooking, they don’t go rancid easily and can only burn at a very high temperature.
Extra virgin olive oil belongs to the category of omega 9 oils, is a good gastric bandage and has an anticoagulant effect. It is only recommended to be used cold. In the case of olive oil, the luck of buying a genuine and fresh (at least not aged) product, however expensive, does not come every day. The Mediterranean diet is mostly recommended thanks to extra virgin olive oil. But the comparison between the olive oils that the Italians and the Greeks eat and what we eat cannot be made.
Flaxseed oil has a good omega 6-omega 3 ratio. Flaxseed oil has a slightly bitter taste and a golden-yellow color. It is recommended to use it only when serving cold dishes. Like any PUFA-rich oil, it goes rancid easily.
Other oils that can be used cold are the extra virgin oils of: avocado, sesame, almond and peanut. The prices are quite high for these oils, and the source should be reliable, packaged in dark bottles and transported at low temperatures.
Conclusions
For cooking, use solid fats at room temperature: pork or poultry lard, coconut oil or butter/ghee (for those who use dairy). They are stable at elevated temperatures, do not go rancid easily and are affordable.
For PUFA intake it would be best to eat nuts, seeds, avocados and fish as they are, instead of the oils extracted from them. However, we can use a small amount of linseed, avocado, sesame, almond oils, paying attention to the provenance.
Olive oil is beneficial, if it is not counterfeit, if it is not older than 6 months and if it is packed in a glass container, preferably dark in color.
