You might never have thought that the lard your grandmother used to grease pans would come back into fashion due to this new study about the health hazards of cooking with vegetable oil
In this study at De Montfort University, subjects were told to cook their usual food with different types of oil including vegetable oil, olive oil, butter, goose fat and lard. The subjects sent the oil left in the pans after cooking back to the university lab where it was analyzed.
Of all of the oils used in this study, coconut oil produced lowest levels of harmful chemical compounds.
When used in cooking, the leftover oil created a chemical compound called an aldehyde whose consumption has been linked to cancer and dementia. When butter, and olive oil were heated up they released much lower levels of aldehydes than did the vegetable oils. Of all of the oils used in this study, coconut oil produced lowest level of these harmful chemical compounds.
It was a common belief before this study that vegetable oils were more healthy than butter with all its saturated fats. Prof. Grootveld, the of the leaders of this study, says that sunflower oil and corn oil are healthy until you put them on heat. He recommends olive oil for frying or cooking: because “Firstly, because lower levels of these toxic compounds are generated, and secondly the compounds which are formed are less threatening to the human body.”
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Professor John Stein from Oxford says that vegetable oils, rich in omega-6- fatty acid are ‘changing our brains as seriously in a way that is as climate change.’ The omega 6 pushes the healthy omega 3 out of the brain contributing to mental health problems and other issues like dyslexia, dementia or even cause cancer.
RELATED: The ultimate healthy fats guide
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