How does Awareness about Cooking Oils Provide a Healthy Way to Enjoy Your Favorite Food?

It is found from research that humans are the only species that consume oil in their daily diet. Rest species of the animal kingdom eat raw food. As fat is an essential part of our diet, it is quite questionable to choose the right cooking oil for preparing food. Today, you can find that there is a wide variety of cooking oils available on the market, and everyday a large amount of information is shared on the internet with some scientifically proven facts of making one cooking oil superior to the other one. Many health professionals believe that consuming fat is critically important for the human body. Though there exists some potential health benefits of these cooking oils, however, scientists are really worried about the amount of cooking oil consumed among people.

These cooking oils are commonly known as vegetable oils which are extracted from plants. Some common and widely available cooking oils are soybean oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, and coconut oil. Mostly, health-conscious consumers prefer cooking oils prepared by crushing or pressing seeds or plants. As Indian food requires more oil, cooking oil labeled as “heart-healthy” can allure consumers to use them in more amounts, which is going to be risky. Therefore, before choosing any oil, we need to understand that every cooking oil has fat and we have to focus on how much to take rather than making research on choosing the right cooking oil.

What are the Various Functions of Fat in the Human Body?

The human body requires a specific amount of fat to get an adequate amount of energy. Fat is an excellent fuel that helps human organs to function well, however, its high intake can contribute to chronic inflammations. Some of the major functions of fat are discussed below:

• Each and every cell of the human body is covered with a membrane that is specifically made up of fat.
• Fats act as the preferred energy reserve in our body which the human body relies on during the time of illness or starvation.
• Fat also adds taste to our diets and helps us to feel full after a meal, unlike sugar.
• It also assists our body to absorb certain vitamins.

Which Cooking Oil has a High Amount of Omega-6 and Why it Should be Avoided?

Omega-6 is one type of polyunsaturated fat which are found in vegetable oils. Though Omega-6 possesses numerous health benefits, however, its excessive intake can be dangerous. Some of the cooking oil having high omega-6 contents are listed below:

• Sunflower oil
• Rice Bran oil
• Peanut oil
• Soybean oil
• Corn oil
• Sesame oil

Some cooking oils do not have a high content of omega-6, such as coconut oil and olive oil. Our human body requires both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids as the human body cannot produce them. As per studies, high consumption of omega-6 can cause chronic health disorders, such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and many more. Therefore, it is recommended to avoid cooking oil having high omega-6 fats.

What is the Smoke-point of a Cooking Oil?

The smoke point of cooking oil is commonly known as the burning point of the oil. Once the cooking oil is left on the stove it starts giving smoke after some time, which is called the smoking point of the oil. This varies from oil to oil. Generally, high smoking point cooking oil is preferred for high-temperature cooking. Therefore, butter or olive oil cannot be used for high-temperature cooking, as they have a low smoking point. The more the oil is refined, the higher is the smoking point.

Some Tips for Consuming Cooking Oil in a Healthy Way

It is not necessary to completely avoid oil in your daily diet to stay healthy. We need to find out the way of using the cooking oil in the right manner. Some essential tips for consuming cooking oil healthily are discussed below:

• Try to use the adequate amount of oil possible to prepare your food, avoid the excessive use of oil just to give an enhanced look to your food.
• Try to use suitable oil for the dish you are going to make, such as virgin oil for salad dressing.
• Do not reheat your cooking oil.
• Try to avoid stocking your cooking oil for a longer period.
• Keep your cooking oil in dark and cool places to keep them fresh for a long span of time.
• Always check, while frying food there should not be any visible smoke.

The Bottom Line

Fat has an essential role in carrying out the normal functioning of the human body. Its adequate intake is healthy while making a habit of using it excessively is harmful. Skipping food or avoiding oil completely is not a solution to lose excess weight or maintain a good lifestyle. The matter is to get aware of consuming the right amount of fat to feel energetic and stay healthy.

About the Author(s)

     

Rosy Behera

Rosy Behera holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is currently working as a content writing professional. She loves to portray her thoughts and ideas via her command on words. Grabbing her audience’s attention with her creative write ups is one of her biggest assets. Apart from writing, she is a certified “Odisi” dancer and has done Gardharva in Drawing, Painting and Arts. She always explores new things through travel and is a big foodie.