Posted 11 September 2023
What is the healthiest budget general purpose cooking oil?
We used to use olive oil composed of refined olive oils and virgin olive oils Smoke point: Refined – 200-240C (465F), Unrefined – 160-190 C (375F)
We've bought rapeseed oil ('veg oil') from lidl, it's not cold pressed so not the best but with the huge increase in the cost of living crisis we've had to look for something more affordable, so trying to find some sort of a balance so it's not too unhealthy. I did ideally want to look for oil which helps inflammation, or at least doesn't contribute to it. I was surprised to read that sunflower oil may actually help? It's not clear if this applies even if it's not high oleic acid sunflower oil.
'This seed oil is a keeper when it comes to cooking oils that help you create the perfect meal without sabotaging your health. High in unsaturated fats and low in heart-harming saturated fats, says Agyeman, and it also contains a bit of vitamins E and K. Sunflower oil contains a particular type of monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which is thought to be particularly beneficial because it's been shown to have a positive effect on inflammation in the body and may support several aspects of heart health such as balanced cholesterol and blood lipid levels.
We never deep fry food, so this is for general meals. What do others buy when on a tight budget? Where from and at what prices per litre so it's easier to compare?
bbcgoodfood.com/how…oil
goodhousekeeping.com/hea…ls/
olivewellnessinstitute.org/ext…ts/
- Virgin olive oil is a first pressing, but has a slightly higher acidity level (under 2%). It should be used in much the same way as extra virgin, and can also be used to cook Mediterranean dishes to create an authentic flavour (but should not be used for deep frying).
- Refined to remove its impurities, and blended to improve flavour, pure ( usually called light or blended) olive oil is the cheapest olive oil there is. Its flavour is quite bland, so it's not worth using it on salads, but it's a good all-purpose cooking oil (again, don't deep fry with it).
We've bought rapeseed oil ('veg oil') from lidl, it's not cold pressed so not the best but with the huge increase in the cost of living crisis we've had to look for something more affordable, so trying to find some sort of a balance so it's not too unhealthy. I did ideally want to look for oil which helps inflammation, or at least doesn't contribute to it. I was surprised to read that sunflower oil may actually help? It's not clear if this applies even if it's not high oleic acid sunflower oil.
'This seed oil is a keeper when it comes to cooking oils that help you create the perfect meal without sabotaging your health. High in unsaturated fats and low in heart-harming saturated fats, says Agyeman, and it also contains a bit of vitamins E and K. Sunflower oil contains a particular type of monounsaturated fat called oleic acid, which is thought to be particularly beneficial because it's been shown to have a positive effect on inflammation in the body and may support several aspects of heart health such as balanced cholesterol and blood lipid levels.
We never deep fry food, so this is for general meals. What do others buy when on a tight budget? Where from and at what prices per litre so it's easier to compare?
bbcgoodfood.com/how…oil
goodhousekeeping.com/hea…ls/
olivewellnessinstitute.org/ext…ts/
Community Updates
39 Comments
sorted byHe claims seed oils should be avoided. Think it's solely to do with their inflammatory nature. Recommends Extra virgin olive oil. He can seem a bit off but he's ok.
lidl-ni.co.uk/p/h…469
rapeseed oil contains erucic acid.....that stuff is associated with big C (not the one in Thailand lol) and increase in fat deposits in heart muscle......I'd run a mile from sunflower oil too....
anyways, don't believe me, I'm not the TV just a chump on t'internet lol but watch out for the increased death stats eh?
I just use rapeseed oil in moderation and never at very high temperatures and it's relatively very cheap (£7 for 5 litres at tesco) (edited)
The worst thing you can do (in my opinion), is the halfway house: listening to gurus on youtube, podcasts, etc, who will tell you "everything you know about diet is wrong", before selling you a very convincing line on how seed oils are bad, saturated fat is healthy, carbs will kill you etc. I notice that What I've Learned and Dr Suneel Dhand have already been posted here. I'm already aware of Dhand for his... interesting views on vaccines, and WIL for their similarly curious views on the evidence on meat. After watching their videos on seed oils, I would suggest taking their advice with a large pinch of salt. What's more likely? That the entire field of nutrition science has got it wrong/has been bought off, or the guys selling supplements and fad diet books are (accidentally or otherwise) getting it wrong?
I can divide this up into several levels of "how much can I be bothered to read/watch":
Level 1: Follow the dietary guidelines: Just try to follow this guide, and get on with your life. The Danish guidelines and the Canadian dietary guidelines are probably a little better, but don't worry about the details. They all advise the same thing - less saturated fat (butter, ghee, coconut oil, hydrogenated veg oils) and more MUFA/PUFA (olive/rapeseed/sunflower oil etc). If the stuff about processing etc concerns you but you don't want to go into the evidence, just use EVOO for flavour, and refined olive oil for cooking. Simple. Done.
Level 2: You've heard some stuff about seed oils, but it's all here and there and doesn't seem coherent. I'm going to contradict my advice on gurus here, *but* these are all fully referenced. Unlike WIL and Dhand, Dr Carvalho is both a clinician *and* a research scientist. Here are videos on seed oils and their risks/benefits, fully cited, using a robust analytical methodology: one on Inflammation, one on Heart Disease, a general overview on seed oils compared to other lipids, and a look at saturated fat.
Level 3: Don't like videos? Want more rigorous methodology? Here's a rebuttal to pretty much every "seed oils are toxic" point you'll hear, with the reasoning behind them and a citation list as long as your arm: A Comprehensive Rebuttal to Seed Oil Sophistry.
Diet/health quacks tend to operate on the same sales pitch:
1) Everything you know about diet is wrong
2) Show some in vitro/animal model studies that make a single exposure look like the culprit for all the world's ills
3) Sell you a diet/supplement to cure it.
But in vitro/animal studies don't show us what we care about: outcomes in humans. When we look at those, there is no evidence (that I've seen) that would suggest that seed oils are unhealthy. The only human outcome trial that I saw cited in all of WIL's video was the LA Veteran's trial, the results of which WIL seemed to be torturing to fit his own narrative. The results of the LAV trial were that those on a high seed oil diet had significantly fewer cardiovascular events. Yes, there were more deaths near the end of the trial in the intervention group, but the difference was largely due to trauma (i.e. road traffic accidents, etc). So unless they're claiming that seed oils cause car accidents, I don't know why they're highlighting *that* finding and not, you know, the one they were actually investigating (heart disease).
You can use the mechanistic storytelling demonstrated in the videos in this thread so far to "demonstrate" that pretty much any exposure is "harmful". What if I told you 63.1% of the UK over-16 population are frequently exposed to something that has been shown to raise serum inflammation markers, cause oxidative stress and induce endothelial shear stress? Sounds terrifying, right? But that exposure is... exercise. One mechanism isn't the whole story. Don't let the snake oil salesmen tell you otherwise.
trolley.co.uk/pro…p=1 (edited)
Try pomace olive oil which we used some time ago.
hsph.harvard.edu/nut…il/ (edited)
The nutritionist points out that ghee and butter come from the same source - cow ghee. But, she adds, one can still be healthier than the other. She says that ghee has a very high smoking point of around 252 degree Celsius which makes it good for high-heat cooking. Now when you are frying some evening snacks then ghee can be a better option than butter.
Another benefit of using ghee, the nutritionist says, is that it contains butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid. Butyrate is what makes ghee good for the gut and the brain too. Ghee also tends to have vitamins A, D, E, N, and K along with omega 3.
ndtv.com/hea…837
Here’s how much of your RDA of these vitamins you’d be hitting if you consumed your entire daily energy allowance for a male (2505kcal/286g) purely from ghee.
I don’t know what vitamin N is supposed to be!