The Oil Dilemma…

 

When we think about the oils that we use in the kitchen…. (Wait a minute, do we think about the oils that we put in our food?) With the rise of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and inflammation, we better start thinking about the ingredients that we ingest every day, oils included.

As it turns out, there are good oils and bad oils for us. The bad ones are dangerous poisons for our bodies, especially when heated. They lower our immune system response by overloading us with toxins, and in the long run, they contribute to make us sick.

One of the good oils is olive oil. If you’re Italian like me, you always have some olive oil on the table… preferably extra virgin. Besides its beneficial fatty acids, it’s also rich in antioxidants, and heart-healthy fats. Extra virgin olive oil is also called EVOO.

EVOO contains more than 20 types of polyphenols, a category of plant-based chemical compounds that help protect your heart and reduce inflammation throughout your body. Polyphenols are a type of antioxidant.

Oils have different smoke points. It’s essential to choose the right oils to cook with, and the ones that we are better off avoiding. One would think that we can use extra virgin olive oil on everything, and rightfully so, if I may- but if we look a little more closely, we realize that olive oil has a higher smoke point than extra virgin olive oil.

According to the North American Olive Oil Association, extra-virgin olive oil’s smoke point is 350 to 410 degrees, and olive oil’s smoke point is 390 to 468 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Surprisingly, a higher smoke point doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s healthy to cook with certain oils at high temperatures. Especially if we use bad oils such as Sunflower, Safflower, and Canola oil. Why? Because of oxidation. Sunflower and Safflower oils have lower smoke points, too.

Fats used in frying emit cooking oil fumes. These fumes contain toxic substances called aldehydes that may increase one’s risk of cancer. Deep frying produces the most aldehydes, but sunflower oil generates more aldehydes than other oils regardless of the cooking method. Experts recommend low-heat cooking methods when using sunflower oil.  Aldehydes have also been found in fried food and in the oil after frying.

Canola oil has a smoke point of 400 degrees. Unfortunately, more than 90% of Canola oil is genetically modified, and many companies refine Canola oil using products such as bleach, all of which makes Canola oil an extremely unhealthy choice for us.

Commercially, most manufacturers expeller press or extract Safflower seed oil with toxic solvents. […] Many processed foods now contain safflower oil, accompanied by dubious claims about health benefits. It is an especially popular oil in USDA organic processed foods, as more health-conscious consumers seek alternatives to pesticide-laced and usually GMO soy, cottonseed, and canola oils in cheaper supermarket foods.

According to Mamud Kara, physician and founder of the supplement company KaraMD, oils undergo a process called oxidation when heated which can produce harmful byproducts, so the more an oil can resist this oxidation process the better it is for cooking.

“Oxidative stability, not smoke point, is the best predictor of how an oil behaves during cooking,” says Holly Herrington, a registered dietitian at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Ten of the most commonly used cooking oils were selected from the supermarket and heated in two different trials in the Acta Scientific Nutritional Health study. In both tests, extra-virgin olive oil proved to have the greatest oxidative stability, in fact lower levels of polar compounds, trans fats, and other byproducts were found in extra virgin olive oil compared with other oils that had higher smoke points.

Olive oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids and unsaturated fat. Unlike saturated fat, these types of fats are shown to improve cholesterol levels, which can – in turn – decrease your risk of heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. […] Extra-virgin olive oil was the most stable oil when heated, while coconut and other virgin oils – such as avocado – followed close behind.

We can probably all agree on the fact that cold-pressed, unrefined and organic, extra virgin olive oil is the way to go. Right? …Wrong! We also need to know what types of extra virgin olive oils are legit, and which ones are not.

A 2011 study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, found that 69 percent of imported olive oil samples failed to meet the minimum standards for “extra-virgin” labeling in an expert taste and smell test.1 In contrast, 10 percent of extra-virgin labels from California failed their tests. 

In fact, as we have recently found out, many olive oil producers in Italy have been cutting their oil with refined, cheap oils which are lower-quality oils treated with chemicals imported from other countries. Sometimes these manufacturers add colors and flavors to vegetable oil to make it resemble olive oil, and then they sell it as “extra virgin olive oil” for export.

Two class-action lawsuits have been filed against Filippo Berio and Bertolli, two of the brands accused of false advertising.

The class action lawsuit further claims that Salov’s extra virgin olive oil product did not meet federal or state requirements that would allow the term “extra virgin” to be included on the product label, since they allegedly mixed the Filippo Berio olive oil product with refined oils that were then packaged in clear bottles, causing the product to oxidize in the presence of sunlight.

The Telegraph in the U.K. exposed the fact that “four out of five” bottles of Italian extra-virgin olive oil were adulterated with lower-quality oil from other countries.

Considering how the olive oil market is mishandled by certain manufacturers, it seems hard to know or to guess which brand of extra virgin olive oil we can trust. Two trustworthy brands that stand out from my research are Lucini Italia, usually available at Whole Foods, and the California Estate Olive Oil from Trader Joe’s. The Trader Joe’s California Estate Olive Oil won the “Best Buy” designation in a Consumer Reports taste test.

High quality extra virgin olive oil should be always kept away from light and in a dark bottle to preserve its freshness.

 

Researchers at the University of California, Davis stated that these failed samples of imported olive oil labeled as “extra virgin” and sold at retail stores in California had defective flavors such as rancid, fusty, and musty. Their chemical testing indicated that the samples failed extra virgin standards for the following reasons:

-oxidation by exposure to elevated temperatures, light, and/or aging

-adulteration with cheaper refined olive oil

-poor quality oil made from damaged and overripe olives, processing flaws, and/or improper oil storage

 

These Are the Olive Oil Brands That Failed the Test (see Table 3 in UC, Davis paper and here):

Carapelli
Mezzetta
Pompeian
Mazola
Primadonna
Colavita
Sasso
Antica Badia
Star
Whole Foods
Filippo Berio
Safeway
Coricelli
Bertolli – there has been confusion about this company. Real Food For Life gives the Bertolli Organic a thumbs up.

 

According to UC Davis’ paper, the Following Olive Oil Brands Are Trustworthy & Good:

-Lucero
-McEvoy Ranch Organic
-Corto
-Omaggio
-Bariani
-California Olive Ranch
-Lucini
-Ottavio
-Cobram Estate
-Olea Estates – is from an extremely reliable source. This delicious oil is grown on a single-family farm in Greece and is excellent.
-Kirkland Organic

 

Two other excellent cooking options are ghee (which is actually clarified butter), and avocado oil. Ghee is a healthy fat for cooking, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated, and it lasts for many months.

Another benefit of ghee is that it is easier to digest as all the milk solids (proteins) have been removed from the butter. Very frequently, even those with a true dairy allergy find that ghee presents no trouble for them.

 

 

Ghee has a smoke point of 482 degrees Fahrenheit which is higher than butter and most other cooking oils. Ghee made from grass-fed, organic butter is the best way to go.

Avocado oil is almost always processed naturally (without chemicals). It is a great substitute for canola oil when cooking foods due to its high smoke point of over 500 degrees, and it’s also high in monounsaturated fat. (Saturated and trans fats are the bad guys we want to avoid.)

It’s packed with oleic acid, a beneficial monounsaturated fat, which can help lower one’s cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure. Rich in lutein, avocado oil can promote eye health, protect the skin from UV ray damage and improve cognition. Avocado oil may also improve skin elasticity and firmness.

 

 

Lastly, Coconut oil is also on my list of healthy cooking oils, but it’s not my favorite since it has a relatively low smoke point of 350 when extra virgin, and 450 when refined, and the flavor is not always suitable for every dish.

 

 

 

Summary:

There are good oils and bad oils for our health. The good oils that are safe to cook with are extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil. Ghee is excellent for cooking, as well.

The bad oils are Canola, Sunflower, Safflower oils, and generally all vegetable oils treated and refined with chemicals. (Most manufacturers press or extract Canola and Safflower seed oil with toxic solvents.)

Oils undergo a process called oxidation when heated which can produce harmful byproducts, so the more an oil can resist this oxidation process the better it is for cooking. Extra-virgin olive oil proved to have the greatest oxidative stability, in fact lower levels of polar compounds, trans fats, and other byproducts were found in extra virgin olive oil compared with other oils that had higher smoke points.