An Easy Guide to Cooking Oils

What’s healthier depends on how you plan to use it

When we go to the grocery today, we find an array of options for cooking oils. We use oils in many ways — to marinate, roast, sauté, bake, fry, or drizzle. Yet there are some oils which can sustain high temperatures which are perfect for sautéing or frying, while other oils don’t do well in heat at all. This variation is due to the oil’s smoke point. The smoke point is the temperature at which the oil starts to burn and ‘smoke’. Different oils will have other smoke points and therefore, different uses. We have outlined some common cooking oils and the best ways to use them in this week’s Wellness Wednesday!

Olive Oil

Olive oil is high in unsaturated fats. It is lighter in taste and colour compared to Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO). Olive oil has a high smoke point which allows it to be an excellent option for sautéing, roasting, grilling, or baking. EVOO, on the other hand, has an ideal flavour profile. EVOO has a much lower smoke point, making it more suitable for creating vinaigrettes, making spreads such as hummus, or drizzled over a salad or grilled vegetables. Studies have shown that a regular intake of olive oil and EVOO can prevent cardiovascular disease and improve gut bacteria (1).

Canola and Vegetable Oils

Vegetable oil is a blend of many different refined oils. Canola oil is pressed from the rapeseed plant. Both Canola and Vegetable oils are high in unsaturated fats, are neutral in taste and flavour and have a relatively high smoke point. It’s an excellent option for high-heat sautéing and frying.

Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has gained a lot of attention in the media over the years for its supposed health benefits. While the research is still unclear, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, it’s still oil and should be used in moderation as you would with any other cooking oil. Unlike most vegetable oils, coconut oil is saturated fat. Saturated fats should be limited in our diet, but it doesn’t mean that it’s off-limits. Coconut oil has a high smoke point, meaning that it can be heated to a high temperature without the flavour or chemical structure changing. This makes it an excellent option for roasting or sautéing. The flavour of coconut oil also lends nicely when cooking curries.

Sesame Oil

Sesame oil adds a delicious, nutty flavour to foods. The most common sesame oil found in most supermarkets in Trinidad and Tobago is sesame oil blended with soybean oil, allowing you to cook with it at a higher smoke point. This is a great option for stir-fries or sautéing. If using pure toasted sesame oil, it is best to use for low-heat cooking or added at the end or after cooking.

When cooking with oils, it’s important to throw it away after, rather than reusing them. When oils are reused repeatedly at high temperatures, it causes the chemical structure in oils to break apart, releasing free radicals which can damage your cells (2). A recent study by the University of Illinois found that the compounds released when reheating oil triggered the proliferation of breast cancer cells (3). While more research is needed on this topic, reheating reused oil can be harmful to your health, and so it’s better to stay on the safe and smart side.

Information this week by: Kirstyn Church, an Associate Nutritionist​ with Nutrition Consulting Services. Tru Valu Supermarket is one of the leading grocery chains in Trinidad and Tobago with five stores and the best customers. Have a question? Email us truvalusupermarkets+wellness@gmail.com.

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References

1. Gavahian, Mohsen, et al. “Health Benefits of Olive Oil and Its Components: Impacts on Gut Microbiota Antioxidant Activities, and Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases.” Trends in Food Science & Technology, vol. 88, June 2019, pp. 220–227., doi:10.1016/j.tifs.2019.03.008.

2. Venkata, Rekhadevi Perumalla, and Rajagopal Subramanyam. “Evaluation of the Deleterious Health Effects of Consumption of Repeatedly Heated Vegetable Oil.” Toxicology Reports​, vol. 3, 2016, pp. 636–643., doi:10.1016/j.toxrep.2016.08.003.

3. Cam, Anthony, et al. “Thermally Abused Frying Oil Potentiates Metastasis to Lung in a Murine Model of Late-Stage Breast Cancer.” Cancer​ Prevention Research​, vol. 12, no. 4, 2019, pp. 201–210., doi:10.1158/1940–6207.capr-18–0220.

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