For the human body, which vegetable oil is more beneficial? What is this product? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article. A few decades ago, the range of vegetable oils used by housewives was extremely small. Most often it came down only to sunflower oil - refined for stewing and frying and unrefined for salads. Today, a wide selection of various vegetable oils is sometimes even perplexing. What is the most useful vegetable oil for health, find out below.
Types of oils
Few people know which vegetable oil is healthier. Firstly, there are refined and unrefined oils. And secondly, there are different types of oils made from nuts and seeds: camelina, olive, coconut, linseed, mustard, pumpkin, grape seed oil or walnut.
Each of them is attractive in its own way - both with healing qualities and taste.
Crude oils
Which vegetable oil is more beneficial - unrefined or refined? The inscription on the package "deodorized and refined" seems to us so familiar, but we do not always think what it means. Lean refined oil has no taste or smell. That is why it is perceived as safe by our taste buds. Alas, this is not so.
Unrefined vegetable oil is a product of squeezing seeds by pressing after frying (hot pressing) or by pressing without early processing (cold pressing). In this case, in the final product there are only substances found in the seeds, and no additional “chemistry”. But with refined oils, the situation is different.
Refined Oils
Which vegetable oil is healthier? The refined product was not created to protect the consumer who uses them at high temperature. The fact is that up to 99% of the oil contained in it is extracted from the original product by refining. So, the "hot" spin allows you to extract 43% of the oil, and the "cold" - only 27%.
Agree, the benefits of a refined product manufacturer are obvious. However, this is not the case. Refining is not just a procedure for cleansing of all "excess" impurities. When creating this type of oil, the seeds are immersed in a petrochemical solvent, usually hexane. After oil isolation, it is evaporated and subjected to treatment with alkali. The resulting oil is then sent for bleaching, deodorization and filtration.
At the same time, gasoline fractions cannot be completely removed. You understand that only this nuance already makes the oil unhealthy. Also, it does not have useful substances that are in unrefined lean oil.
Carcinogens
Often people ask: “What vegetable oil is healthier?” It is known that carcinogens form when frying unrefined oils. It would seem that the use of a refined product solves this problem. However, is it worth it to put into action “dead” oil with harmful inclusions, if you can choose a better product for cooking?
Thus, the answer is clear - unrefined vegetable oil is healthier than refined vegetable oil. During heat treatment, you need to approach the choice of the "right" oil carefully.
Cold pressed
You do not know which vegetable oil is healthier? We have already found out that there are no dangerous chemical additives in unrefined oil, and therefore it is more beneficial. However, several types of unrefined oils are sold in stores: hot and cold pressed. How do they differ?
Cold pressed is the creation of butter from whole nuts or seeds using a press. Under the influence of high pressure it is heated, but the temperature should not exceed 40-42 ° C. It is this nuance that allows you to save all the primordial nutritional value of the oil. After pressing, the masters defend the product obtained, then filter and bottle it.
From this it follows that neither the harmful “chemistry” nor the temperature affects the crude cold-pressed oil . Thanks to this, this method of oil production can be called the most natural and gentle. In addition, cold pressed only applies to high-quality seeds.
Hot spin
In order to find out what is the most useful vegetable oil, we will study the technology of hot pressing. It is significantly different from cold, as the seeds are pressed after processing in the frypots. Water is poured into the detailed seeds, and then at 110 ° C they are fried in pans, after which the seeds are pressed.
The result is a product with a pronounced taste and smell. Its color is much darker than that obtained by cold pressing. Processing using heat and moisture makes seed quality unimportant, but it does not affect the properties of the final product. This factor, together with a greater degree of oil sampling in this method (43% versus 27% in cold pressing) makes it much more attractive for the manufacturer. However, most of the trace elements and vitamins in the oil, heat treatment and further filtering are destroyed.
Purchase
In order to prepare a delicious dish, you need to know what is the most healthy vegetable oil. Obviously, a cold pressed product is more beneficial for health. It costs more, but he should be preferred. Unrefined hot-pressed oil wins only in comparison with refined.
If you want to make a purchase and are in doubt, pay attention first to the color of the product - in cold-pressed oil it is slightly lighter. Next, look at the price - a good product cannot be cheap. Also read the description on the label carefully.
It makes no sense for manufacturers to hide information that is beneficial to them, so on the packaging of excellent oil you will always see the inscription: “Unrefined. Cold first spin. "
Acid content
So, you already know which vegetable oils are good for your health. We study their composition. Lean oils are composed mainly (94-96%) of triglycerides of fatty acids. They also have substances close to fats (vitamins, phospholipids, sterols), free fatty acids and so on. So, saturated fatty acids include:
- Lauric acid. Most of it is found in coconut oil. This acid has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity, increases the number of “useful” cholesterol. Its negative qualities include an increased risk of blood clots and an increase in the level of inflammatory reactions.
- Palmitic acid. Most of all it contains rice bran oil and palm. It is harmful to the body, as it increases mortality from cancer, destroys pancreatic cells, increases the risk of blood clots and the number of "bad" cholesterol can cause inflammation.
- Capric, caproic, myristic, caprylic, arachinic, stearic, lignoceric, behenic acids in oils are contained in small quantities.
Monounsaturated fatty acids include:
- Oleic acid. Contained in large quantities in palm oil, olive, pumpkin, sesame, almond, avocado. This substance prevents aging, cancer, reduces the risk of stroke, is useful for diabetes mellitus, and reduces inflammation.
- Erucic acid. It is found in rapeseed oil and mustard. When tested in rats, it caused cirrhosis and impaired activity of the heart and blood vessels.
- Palmitoleic, aceteroic, eicosenoic acids are contained in oils in very small quantities.
In vegetable oils, you can also find such polyunsaturated fatty acids:
- Linoleic. It is found in rapeseed oil, corn, pumpkin, camelina, sunflower, mustard, soy, hemp, sesame, cedar, walnut, rice bran, grape seed. This acid increases the risk of inflammation, cancer, depression, coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction.
- Alpha linolenic. Contained in soybean oil, linseed, camelina, hemp, rapeseed, mustard, cedar and walnuts. This is an omega-3 fatty acid, from which omega-3 eicosapentaenoic acid is formed, which is necessary for the activity of the brain and the whole body. It is not synthesized in the body; input from the outside is needed.
- Arachidonic Contained in grape seed oil. It destroys cancerous tumors of the liver, improves glucose uptake. Unfortunately, this substance stimulates inflammatory processes.
- Gamma-linolenic acid and rare acids in vegetable oils are contained in small quantities.
Other components
Next, we will answer the question, which vegetable oil is the most useful for the body, and now we will find out what other components are present in the composition of this product. So, in vegetable oils such substances are also contained:
- Phosphatides (phospholipids) are found in avocado and sesame oil. These antioxidants reduce the amount of total cholesterol, enhance the work of vitamins.
- Provitamin A is contained in oils in small quantities.
- Vitamin E can be found in pumpkin seed oil, cedar, camelina, sunflower, sesame, corn, flaxseed, soy, hemp, grape seed. This antioxidant improves immunity, has an anti-inflammatory effect, enhances the action of other vitamins (especially A).
- Vitamin K1 is found in soybean oil, rapeseed and olive. It stimulates the immune system, provides typical blood coagulation, protects the liver.
- Phytosterols (phytosterols) are found in sesame oil, olive, corn, soy and rice bran. They reduce the absorption in the intestines of cholesterol, have anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic qualities.
- Waxes are contained in small quantities.
Best oils
Are you still asking which vegetable oil is more beneficial for the body? Based on the above composition of oils, it can be concluded that beneficial oils include olive, coconut, linseed, avocado and almond.
But rapeseed, corn, camelina, palm, sesame, sunflower, cedar, grape seed, soy, mustard, walnut, rice bran, hemp are harmful to health.
The most healthy oil
As you know, everything is relative to the health benefits. Therefore, we consider a couple of criteria by which to evaluate the comparative usefulness of oils. One of the basic factors that favor lean oil is its content of omega-3 fatty unsaturated acids. These substances are very important for human health. They are part of cell membranes, dissolve cholesterol, form the myelin sheath of nerve fibers. Also, omega-3s are very necessary for nursing and pregnant mothers, as they take part in the formation of the baby’s brain.
There are very few omega-3 acids in sunflower oil, so you should not get involved in it. The same applies to olive oil, which many consider the best. Flaxseed oil is the champion in the content of this substance. However, it is very unstable, since two weeks after the extraction it becomes toxic.
Good oils in relation to omega-3 fatty acids include mustard, camelina and hemp. Mustard is the most resistant to oxidation, and this quality makes it a leader in terms of usefulness. In addition, many consumers claim that it is the most appetizing of the three listed.
If we consider vegetable oils as a source of vitamin E, then the leaders are pumpkin, sunflower, linseed, hemp, corn, soybean, camelina, cedar, sesame, grape seed.
Application
Depending on how you want to apply the oil - for frying or stewing, baking in the oven, in a salad, your choice will be different. Different oils have different smoke points, above which they cannot be heated, otherwise you will get a portion of carcinogens instead of good.
Ideally, it is better not to heat the oils at all, but to add them to an already prepared dish, although this is not possible for everyone. The most reasonable, of course, is to choose for yourself a couple of your favorite oils and buy them in small bottles, alternating and applying to create different dishes.
So, sesame oil can be added to pastries and desserts, and olive oil is perfect for salads and seafood dishes.
Calorie content
What is the calorie content of everyone's favorite sunflower oil? 100 g of this product contains:
- 0.1 g of water;
- 99.9 g of fat;
- 899 kcal.
Interesting information
Which oil is healthier - butter or vegetable? Cow butter can easily be made at home, without special equipment in the same way as it was prepared 1000 years ago. Lean oil is a new thing that appeared in the early 50s. The process of its creation is very unpleasant and far from natural.
Cow butter consists of saturated fat, which is very beneficial for our body, and lean oil consists of polyunsaturated unstable fats, which undergo the oxidation process, causing inflammation and mutations in our body. Based only on these nuances, we can conclude that cow butter is much better than lean. It is more natural and safer and, of course, tastier.
And what is the most beneficial vegetable oil for women? Of course, black cumin oil, which is also a natural antibiotic. This product has phytoestrogens that enhance the female hormonal background. However, it is contraindicated in pregnant women, as it can cause contractions of the smooth muscles of the uterus.
By the way, a physiologist at the Norwegian Institute of the Brain, physiologist Hagesen Björn, believes that those who do not consume vegetable oil are less likely to remember new information and become more irritable. He claims that every person should eat two tablespoons of this product every day.