Despite the low-fat, no-fat craze that persists in our culture, judicious amounts of the right kind of fats are health promoting.
Toss out your polyunsaturated fats such as safflower oil and corn oil. And especially avoid any products that contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils—the notorious trans- fatty acids—such as margarine and vegetable shortening. Stick with monounsaturated fats such as extra-virgin olive oil for low-heat cooking or cold use; almond oil, canola oil, and peanut oil for high-heat cooking, such as frying.
Beyond this, finding a good source of organic oils for culinary use is essential for several reasons:
1. Many mass-produced cooking oils such as canola, soy, corn, and cottonseed are from plants that have been genetically engineered to resist damage by herbicides or to incorporate the gene that expresses the toxin produced by Bacillus thuringiensis — a self-defeating practice. Cottonseed, especially, unless organic, is from plants given heavy doses of pesticides.
2. Sewage sludge containing heavy metals may have been used on the fields where the conventional oil-producing crops were grown and been taken up by the plants. Or, if the fields were fertilized with chemical fertilizers, they may be depleted of trace minerals and organic matter, which can affect the quality of the oil-producing crops grown on them.
3. Agricultural chemicals such as pesticides have a tendency to accumulate in plant fats and so may be concentrated in the resulting oils. (The chemicals also accumulate in fatty tissues in our bodies, female breast tissue, for instance.)
4. Bulk oils are usually extracted by a process that utilizes hexane, a petroleum by-product and nervous system toxin. While the hexane evaporates at the end of the extraction process and is said to be completely gone from the oil it extracts, it poses a risk to workers. And while the FDA vouches for the safety of chemically extracted oils, their assurances are not reassuring to everyone.
All these worries are void if I buy organic, cold-pressed, sinolea knife extracted, or expeller pressed oil. It’s not hard to find organic oils these days. Spectrum Naturals, the nation’s largest supplier of a variety of organic culinary oils, reports that its business is growing about 25 percent a year, and grossed about $50 million in 2004.
NUTRITION
Olive, canola, peanut, sesame, almond, and avocado oils have more than 50 percent monounsaturated fat—the kind that helps lower bad cholesterol.
Canola, corn, safflower, sunflower, walnut, sesame, hemp seed, and soy oils are rich in polyunsaturated fats that contain the important Omega-3 and Omega-6 essential fatty acids, necessary for proper growth in children and the maintenance of cardiovascular health, brain and visual function, and cell replacement in adults. But there’s a catch.
Recent studies suggest that the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids may be the most important factor to consider in oils regarding their health benefits, such as lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease, lowering blood pressure, preventing irregular heartbeats, and promoting cardiovascular health. For example, if your intake of Omega-6 fats is too high, it competes with the Omega-3 fats and prevents them from doing their beneficial work, which may lead to an Omega-3 deficiency. For a healthy balance, it is recommended that the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in the diet should be 3 or 4 parts Omega-6 to 1 part Omega-3. The typical Western diet has a ratio estimated at 20:1.
The following table shows the ratios of Omega-6 to Omega-3 in various vegetable oils.
| Oil Ratio | (Omega-6 to Omega-3)/td> |
| Canola | 3:1 |
| Corn | 8:0 |
| Flaxseed | 2:7 |
| Hemp seed | 3:1 |
| Olive | 1:0 |
| Peanut | 4:0 |
| Safflower | 8:0 |
| Soy | 7:1 |
| Soy | 7:1 |
| Sunflower | 8:0 |
| Walnut | 5:1 |
| Wheat germ | 7:1 |
FISH OIL
Fish such as cod, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, and salmon are excellent sources of Omega-3, and if you choose to use a lot of Omega-6–rich oils in your cooking or on your salads, you might want to consider fish oil for Omega-3 supplementation. That’s why mom made sure you got your cod liver oil. ....read more
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