Which cooking oil is best? Check out what a nutritionist recommends

Today's living conditions are getting better and better, and we have more choices when it comes to cooking oil. Although the choices have increased, what are the differences between these dazzling product types for daily cooking and cooking? Is there any method when choosing?

Which cooking oil is best? Check out what a nutritionist recommends

Why do we eat cooking oil?

First, let us understand why we eat cooking oil and what nutritional value it has. The maintenance of normal human life requires the support of heat. There are three main sources of heat: carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The fat in cooking oil is part of lipids.

Different fatty acid compositions in edible oils also have different effects on human health. Fatty acids are composed of saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids are divided into linoleic acid and linolenic acid. Excessive intake of saturated fatty acids may cause three high diseases. Polyunsaturated fatty acids have the effect of lowering lipids and blood pressure under certain conditions, etc. We recommend that you choose cooking oil with higher unsaturated fatty acid content, which is more beneficial to health.

In this case, how to choose common cooking oils? The nutritionist will give you a table to look at:

Fatty acid composition ratio in common edible oils

It can be seen that olive oil, soybean oil, corn oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil, etc. are all oils with high unsaturated fatty acid content. It is best for people to eat this kind of cooking oil regularly! So what are the nutritional values ??of different oils?

Nutritional value of 11 commonly used oils:

1. Peanut oil

Peanut oil is light yellow and transparent, with a clear color, fragrant smell and delicious taste. It is a relatively easy-to-digest edible oil. Peanut oil contains more than 80% unsaturated fatty acids (including 41.2% oleic acid and 37.6% linoleic acid). It also contains 19.9% ??of saturated fatty acids such as palmitic acid, stearic acid and arachidic acid.

Judging from the above content, the fatty acid composition of peanut oil is relatively good and easy to be digested and absorbed by the human body. According to foreign information, the use of peanut oil can decompose cholesterol in the human body into bile acids and excrete them out of the body, thereby reducing the cholesterol content in plasma. In addition, peanut oil also contains sterols, wheat germ phenol, phospholipids, vitamin E, choline and other substances beneficial to the human body. Regular consumption of peanut oil can prevent skin wrinkles and aging, protect blood vessel walls, prevent thrombosis, help prevent arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease. The choline in peanut oil can also improve the memory of the human brain and delay the decline of brain function.

2. Soybean oil

Soybean oil has a darker color and a special beany smell; it has poor thermal stability and will produce more foam when heated. Soybean oil contains more linoleic acid, which is prone to oxidation and deterioration and produces "bean smell". In terms of edible quality, soybean oil is not as good as sesame oil, sunflower oil, and peanut oil.

In terms of nutritional value, soybean oil contains 7-10% palmitic acid, 2-5% stearic acid, 1-3% arachidic acid, 22-30% oleic acid, 50-60% linoleic acid, and 5-5% linoleic acid. 9%. Soybean oil has a good fatty acid composition. It is rich in linoleic acid, which can significantly reduce serum cholesterol levels and prevent cardiovascular diseases. Soybeans also contain large amounts of vitamin E, vitamin D and rich lecithin, which are good for It is very beneficial to human health. In addition, the digestion and absorption rate of soybean oil in the human body is as high as 98%, so soybean oil is also an excellent edible oil with high nutritional value.

3. Rapeseed oil

Rapeseed oil is what we commonly call rapeseed oil, also called coriander oil. It is a transparent or translucent liquid extracted from the seeds of the cruciferous plant Brassica (rapeseed). Canola oil is generally dark yellow or brown in color. Rapeseed oil contains 0.4-1.0% arachidic acid, 14-19% oleic acid, 12-24% linoleic acid, 31-55% erucic acid, and 1-10% linolenic acid.

In terms of nutritional value, the digestion and absorption rate of rapeseed oil by the human body can be as high as 99%, and it has a choleretic effect. When the liver is in a pathological state, rapeseed can also be metabolized normally by the human body. Moreover, canola oil contains little or no cholesterol, so people who control their cholesterol intake can safely consume it. However, rapeseed oil lacks linoleic acid and other essential fatty acids for the human body, and its fatty acid composition is unbalanced, so its nutritional value is lower than that of ordinary vegetable oils. If it can be eaten with high-quality edible oil rich in linoleic acid, its nutritional value will be greatly improved. Value will be enhanced.

In addition, rapeseed oil is an oil with a particularly high erucic acid content. Whether it can cause myocardial fat deposition and damage the heart is still controversial, so patients with coronary heart disease and hypertension should still pay attention to eating less.

4. Sesame oil

Sesame oil includes ordinary sesame oil and finely ground sesame oil, both of which are oils made from sesame oil. The fatty acids extracted from sesame oil, whether sesame oil or finely ground sesame oil, generally contain 35.0-49.4% oleic acid, 37.7-48.4% linoleic acid, and 0.4-1.2% arachidic acid. The digestion and absorption rate of sesame oil reaches 98%. Sesame oil does not contain ingredients harmful to the human body, but is particularly rich in vitamin E and relatively rich in linoleic acid. Regular consumption of sesame oil can regulate the permeability of capillaries, enhance the oxygen absorption capacity of human tissues, improve blood circulation, promote gonad development, delay aging and maintain youthfulness. Therefore, sesame oil is an excellent edible oil with good edible quality and high nutritional value.

5. Corn oil

The fat content of corn germ is between 17% and 45%, accounting for more than 80% of the total fat content of corn. The fatty acid content in corn oil is characterized by an unsaturated fatty acid content of as high as 80% to 85%. Corn oil itself does not contain cholesterol. It has a dissolving effect on the accumulation of cholesterol in the blood, so it can reduce the hardening effect on blood vessels.

Corn oil is also subject to high temperatures and can be used for stir-frying, but like sunflower oil, it contains high levels of omega-6 fats, so it is not suitable for reuse.

6. Olive oil

Olive oil is an excellent non-drying fat. More than 2/3 of the fat in olive oil is monounsaturated. Olive oil is high in unsaturated fatty acids. It is digested and absorbed by the human body, so its nutritional value is high. Primary olive oil also prevents heart disease and cancer.

Olive oil is highly heat stable, making it ideal for high-temperature cooking. As long as the maximum temperature does not exceed 190 degrees, olive oil will not decompose, so after frying, it can be reused as long as it is filtered with gauze or filter paper. Moreover, although food fried in olive oil also has a golden crispy shell, the oil will not penetrate into the food, so it will appear lighter and easier to digest. In addition to stir-frying, olive oil can also be used in cold dishes or sprinkled over cooked dishes.

7. Sunflower oil

Refined sunflower seed oil is clear and beautiful in light yellow or greenish yellow, with fragrant smell and pure taste. The composition of fatty acids in sunflower oil is affected by climate conditions. Sunflower oil produced in cold areas contains about 15% oleic acid and about 70% linoleic acid; sunflower oil produced in warm areas contains about 65% oleic acid and 20% linoleic acid. %about. The human digestibility of sunflower seed oil is 96.5%. It is rich in linoleic acid, which can significantly lower cholesterol, prevent arteriosclerosis and prevent coronary heart disease. In addition, the content of tocopherol a, which has the strongest physiological activity in sunflower oil, is higher than that of ordinary vegetable oils. Moreover, the ratio of linoleic acid content to vitamin E content is relatively balanced, making it easy for the body to absorb and utilize. Therefore, sunflower seed oil is an excellent edible oil with high nutritional value and beneficial to human health.

8. Flaxseed oil

Flaxseed oil is also called flax oil. Flax oil contains 9-11% saturated fatty acids, 13-29% oleic acid, 15-30% linoleic acid, and 44-61% linoleic acid. Flax oil has a special smell. Cold-pressed flaxseed oil is rich in omega-3. Omega-3 is an "essential unsaturated fatty acid", which is extremely important to the human body, but cannot be synthesized by itself. It must be ingested outside the body to satisfy the human body. important materials needed. Omega-3 is relatively abundant in seals, deep-sea cold-water fish, seaweed and other marine animals and plants, flax plants, and walnut nuts. Among them, flaxseed oil is the vegetable oil with the highest omega-3 content on land. Due to its importance to the body, it is called "liquid gold".

In addition, because it contains too much linoleic acid and has poor storage stability and thermal stability, linseed oil is not suitable for hot frying and is more suitable for cold dishes. Store in a cool place and not for too long.

9. Cottonseed oil

Refined cottonseed oil is generally orange or brown in color and contains 21.6-24.8% palmitic acid, 1.9-2.4% stearic acid, 0-0.1% arachidic acid, 18.0-30.7% oleic acid, and 44.9-55.0% linoleic acid in fatty acids. Refined cottonseed oil has been cleared of toxic substances such as gossypol and is available for human consumption. Cottonseed oil contains a large amount of essential fatty acids for the human body. It is best to be mixed with animal fat for consumption, because the content of linoleic acid in cottonseed oil is particularly high, which can effectively inhibit the rise of cholesterol in the blood and maintain human health. The human body's absorption rate of cotton oil is 98%.

10. Safflower seed oil

Safflower seed oil contains 6% saturated fatty acids, 21% oleic acid, and 73% linoleic acid. Because its main component is linoleic acid, it has extremely high nutritional value and can prevent the deposition of serum cholesterol in the blood vessel wall, and has medical and health effects in preventing and treating atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases. In the pharmaceutical industry, safflower seed oil can be used to manufacture "Yishuning" and other drugs for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, liver cirrhosis and other diseases. In addition, safflower seed oil also contains a large amount of medicinal ingredients such as vitamin E, oryzanol, and sterols, so it is known as an emerging "healthy oil" and "healthy nutritional oil."

11. Grapeseed oil

Grape seed oil is refined from grape seeds through the most advanced cold-pressing method. Its main ingredients are linoleic acid and proanthocyanidins, with a linoleic acid content of more than 70%. Linoleic acid is a fatty acid that is essential for the human body but cannot be synthesized by the human body. Grape seed oil can also prevent and treat cardiovascular system diseases and reduce human serum cholesterol and blood pressure.

Grapeseed oil can withstand high temperatures, so it's great for a variety of stir-fries.