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Understanding Fats and Oils

Tips on Cooking oil

If you must cook with vegetable oils other than coconut or red palm, the order of preference is olive, peanut, and sesame. These three oils have the highest percentages of oleic fatty acid, the relatively stable monounsaturated fatty acid. Although canola oil also contains a large percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids, it should be avoided because it has a high sulfur content and goes bad very easily. Canola oil is highly susceptible to developing trans fatty acids during processing, making it similar to margarine and shortening.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids
When a fatty acid chain is missing several hydrogen atoms, it has two or more double bonds. These fatty acids are called polyunsaturated fatty acids, poly, because there is more than one double bond. Because each double bond represents a kink in the fatty acid chain, polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more kinks, and are therefore very loosely packed, and remain liquid even in the refrigerator. They are highly unstable, and go bad quite easily when exposed to heat and light. When polyunsaturated fatty acids go bad, free radicals are created. Free radicals are compounds that travel around in your blood, causing damage to just about everything that they come into contact with. Consistent exposure to free radicals has been strongly linked to the development of tumors, cardiovascular disease, premature aging, autoimmune diseases, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, and cataracts.