[Jim Johnson]

Which is the healthiest oil for use in the kitchen, vegetable oil (soybean oil), canola oil or olive oil? You may have a different answer for cooking and salads. I know that canola oil is lower is saturated fat, but I have heard that it turns to trans fat at 120 degrees.

[Credendovidis]

Which is the healthiest oil for use in the kitchen, vegetable oil (soybean oil), canola oil or olive oil? You may have a different answer for cooking and salads. I know that canola oil is lower is saturated fat, but I have heard that it turns to trans fat at 120 degrees.

It all depends on what you mean with healthiest, and in what process. Olive oil may be the healthiest in a salad, but I would not use it to fry chips! Each of these oils have their specific use. Your own remark on canola oil underlines that view!
.
Olive oil (may) provide(s) important nutritional support in the fight against such health problems as arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, and in pain management.
.
Soybean oil is a source of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.
.
Canola oil (Canadian oil, low acid oil) is healthy due to its very low saturated fat and very high mono-unsaturated oil content.
.
:)

[N0help4u]

Canola and soybean are bad for you for the most part.
Canola Oil - How Toxic Is It?

Soy is being blamed for hormonal/thyroid problems

Olive oil is good
Coconut oil is good for baked goods especially pie crust.

Basically avoid Crisco/wesson type oils and use the oils in the olive oil section like
Sunflower oil, saffron oil, grape seed oil, omega, flax,

The Bad Fats
Saturated Fats Saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol).
Trans Fats Trans fats raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and lower HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).
The Good Fats
Monounsaturated Fats Monounsaturated fats lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and increase the HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).
Polyunsaturated Fats Polyunsaturated fats also lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids belong to this group.

[Fuchsia]

I would have to go with olive oil too.

[frangipanis]

I've heard that using a variety of oils is good for you.

[louisglenda]

We use olive oil in our deep fat fryer which we use to fry chips once a week [or less.]
The chips are delicious and don't taste of olive oil and although a bit pricey to fill it at the beginning is worth it. Our family all commented on the crispy chips when they visited and we didn't tell them they were done in olive oil until they had eaten them.
Glenda

[linnealand]

Use the best quality extra virgin olive oil you can.

I'm baffled as to how a nutritional expert could get something so basic so wrong.

Types of olive oil

Generally, olive oil is extracted by pressing or crushing olives. Olive oil comes in different varieties, depending on the amount of processing involved. Varieties include:
Extra virgin - considered the best, least processed, comprising the oil from the first pressing of the olives.
Virgin - from the second pressing.
Pure - undergoes some processing, such as filtering and refining.
Extra light - undergoes considerable processing and only retains a very mild olive flavour.

When buying olive oil you will want to obtain a high quality EXTRA VIRGIN oil. The oil that comes from the first "pressing" of the olive, is extracted without using heat (a cold press) or chemicals, and has no "off" flavors is awarded "extra virgin" status. The less the olive oil is handled, the closer to its natural state, the better the oil. If the olive oil meets all the criteria, it can be designated as "extra virgin".

What is pure and light olive oil? "Pure" olive oil is made by adding a little extra virgin olive oil to refined olive oil. It is a lesser grade oil that is also labeled as just "olive oil" in the U.S.

"Light" olive oil is a marketing concept and not a classification of olive oil grades. It is completely unregulated by any certification organizations and therefore has no real precedent to what its content should be. Sometimes, the olive oil is cut with other vegetable oils.


Olive oil versus canola oil

Do not fall into the hype which is put out by traditional medicine regarding the promotion of canola oil (rapeseed) as superior due to its concentration of monounsaturated fatty acids. Olive oil is far superior and has been around for thousands of years. Canola oil is a relatively recent development and the original crops were unfit for human consumption due to their high content of a dangerous fatty acid called euric acid.

If the taste of olive oil is a problem, or if you are frying or sautéing food, then you should consider coconut oil. Many nutritionally misinformed people would consider this unwise due to coconut oil's nearly exclusive content of saturated fat. However, this is just not the case. Because it has mostly saturated fat, it is much less dangerous to heat. The heat will not tend to cause the oil to transition into dangerous trans fatty acids.

Check out these links:


Olive oil's health benefits

Most Commonly Asked Questions About Olive Oil

[NeedKarma]

canola and soybean are bad for you for the most part.
Canola Oil - How Toxic Is It?

That's a myth: snopes.com: Canola Oil and Rape Seed

[N0help4u]

I don't believe everything snopes says cause I have seen them say something's are not fact that are. I believe Dr. Pompa, Dr. Winer and others over snopes. Look it up and you will see they are not always right.

Google;
Things snopes got wrong
Or snopes wrong

[NeedKarma]

I'll take Snopes over Dr. Pompa. :)

And I took your advice and googled "things snopes.com got wrong" and didn't see anything that discredited the site and it's research in any way.

[linnealand]

I included the canola oil quote because I thought jim would like to read it. Honestly, I would prefer to stay away from any product that is controversial. It looks like the jury is still out. My arguments for the use of extra virgin olive oil still stand. At least we can agree about that! :)

[N0help4u]

Yeah heat does effect olive oil.
And just like the pharmaceuticals claim their drugs are safe even though many of them have killed hundreds of people I believe a lot of what we consume is not as good as 'they' claim.

[wildandblue]

What are your opinions on corn oil? I now use a lot of extra virgin olive oil. The first bottle I bought years ago, I couldn't stand it but now I pour it on! It is an acquired taste I guess But for fried foods I generally use corn oil. And pick out a bottle that is light not dark from the store shelf.

[linnealand]

If I think I can get away with it, I'll fry with olive oil. Regular olive oil has a higher smoking point.

I know what you mean, wildandblue. Before moving to italy, all oil scared me. But people here kept insisting that it's good for you... and now I swear I'm an extra virgin olive oil evangelist. It's almost the only thing I'll use (where something else isn't required for baking, etc.). It is an acquired taste, but I swear I think it would solve half of the diet problems back home in the states. I saw my boyfriend pour some on his soup. I can remember thinking, "why is he doing that? it's already wet...". Omg, lol. But after only a few weeks of switching to the liquid gold, I could see and feel a substantial difference. Better joints, brighter skin...

If it's oil for baking, I usually use sunflower oil. I don't know the details of it, but it's popular here. And it's as neutral as corn oil and it can handle high heat (but if I'm honest I think the best tasting with the highest smoke point is peanut oil - I haven't tried coconut oil yet, but I've seen both very good and mixed info about it).

Nohelp, that's pretty much how I feel, too!

[N0help4u]

I heard coconut oil is great for baking.
Peanut oil is great in that deep fry pot that people cook their thanksgiving turkey in.

[wildandblue]

Well I feel I should always tell people if I'm using peanut oil since there seem to be so many with peanut allergies. What's with that, anyway? When I've grown peanuts, the ones that you plant that never sprout look pretty much the same as the new peanuts when you dig them up later. They could just have botulism, not a peanut allergy. There was an article in our church bulletin a few years back about how they use oil sunflowers to clean up radioactive waste like Chernoble. So I just avoid sunflower oil.

[linnealand]

They do what? Lol...

I don't know if I'm understanding you correctly or not. Did you say that they use the same kind of sunflowers to clean up radioactive waste as they use to make oil? I'm trying to figure out how to make flowers clean up anything... except a dreary room on a rainy day. At least it's good for cleaning, I guess... :)

In any case, it's so widely used here that I've never thought twice about using it. To tell you the truth, I will probably keep it in the pantry unless I find real evidence not to. There's nothing more beautiful than a field full of sunflowers!

[N0help4u]

What it boils down to is the oil synthetic or natural?
Synthetic oils are bad for you because they clog your arteries and so forth.
The purer the oil the better it is for you.

Most foods that are not organic do contain ingredients that are also used in chemicals
Like they say Coca cola in high concentration will eat rust.
I heard they use some of the same ingredients that go into paint thinner are used in ice cream
I try to buy the healthiest source of a food when possible but I don't think using the less healthy occasionally is going to kill me since most people use the less healthy as the norm

[frangipanis]

I tried sesame oil years ago when it was used to cook individual sized whole fish. Apparently it's considered the Queen of Oils.

Sesame oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm wondering if there are any recipes for using sesame oil other than fish, that it seemed well suited for because of its strong flavour.

[linnealand]

What it boils down to is the oil synthetic or natural?
Synthetic oils are bad for you because they clog your arteries and so forth.
The purer the oil the better it is for you.

Most foods that are not organic do contain ingredients that are also used in chemicals
Like they say Coca cola in high concentration will eat rust.
I heard they use some of the same ingredients that go into paint thinner are used in ice cream
I try to buy the healthiest source of a food when possible but I don't think using the less healthy occasionally is going to kill me since most people use the less healthy as the norm

You're right about the shopping smarts. That's where I am, too. I believe in staying healthy, but I'm not interested in being all extreme about it, and I'm not too interested in getting preachy to others about it either. But I AM an EVOO evangelist to anyone who wants to hear about it, that's for sure.

What on earth is going on with this ice-cream thing? Flowers, ice-cream... next we're going to find out that brushing your hair puts holes in your eyes. Have you ever left dirty pennies in a cup of coke overnight? If you haven't, give it a try!

Fran: YES! I'm a huge, huge fan of sesame oil. I don't know if any of you are fans of deepak chopra, but I absolutely love him. He discusses the benefits of wiping your skin down every day with sesame oil, lightly rinsing your mouth with it... I've tried it, and I have to say it's AMAZING.

I love homemade cold sesame noodles.

There's a salad that I make for myself all the time. It's just super high quality fennel, cut in half and then sliced thinly, with some salt, a nice amount of freshly cracked black pepper, and some sesame oil drizzled on top (have not tried it with dark/toasted sesame oil). It's strong, but I'm crazy about it.

Also, I do the same thing with super good EVOO. Replace all sesame oil with EVOO. Sounds simple, but I think it's heavenly. You can also add vinegar here, but it's not necessary.