Which Cooking Oil Is Healthy
Health advocates blamed Formula 47 fries for raising customers'
cholesterol, so the Golden Arches switched to what people assumed was
healthier—100 percent vegetable oil.
The new oils were good fats that had been altered—hydrogenated—for flavor retention and longer shelf life. But that made them even more damaging to cardiovascular health than the saturated fats had been thought to be.Some public-health experts now blame the trans fats in hydrogenated oils for tens of thousands of premature deaths. According to a recent study review by the Harvard school of public health, trans fat may increase your risk of a host of chronic diseases and also promote weight gain. So McDonald's and others have once again reformulated their frying medium, using vegetable-oil blends that are free of trans fats.
In short, oils aren't as simple as they seem. Like McDonald's, if you cook with the wrong oil, you may be sabotaging your health. To protect your body, ease your mind, and please your palate, follow these rules.Corn, soybean, and other vegetable oils have high levels of omega-6s. These polyunsaturated fats aren't bad when they're balanced with plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, like the ones found in fish. But that often isn't the case in the typical American diet. "We now consume 20 to 1 omega-6s to omega-3s," says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. "Our inflammatory factory is overstaffed, and our anti-inflammatory factory is understaffed."
The new oils were good fats that had been altered—hydrogenated—for flavor retention and longer shelf life. But that made them even more damaging to cardiovascular health than the saturated fats had been thought to be.Some public-health experts now blame the trans fats in hydrogenated oils for tens of thousands of premature deaths. According to a recent study review by the Harvard school of public health, trans fat may increase your risk of a host of chronic diseases and also promote weight gain. So McDonald's and others have once again reformulated their frying medium, using vegetable-oil blends that are free of trans fats.
In short, oils aren't as simple as they seem. Like McDonald's, if you cook with the wrong oil, you may be sabotaging your health. To protect your body, ease your mind, and please your palate, follow these rules.Corn, soybean, and other vegetable oils have high levels of omega-6s. These polyunsaturated fats aren't bad when they're balanced with plenty of omega-3 fatty acids, like the ones found in fish. But that often isn't the case in the typical American diet. "We now consume 20 to 1 omega-6s to omega-3s," says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., author of The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth. "Our inflammatory factory is overstaffed, and our anti-inflammatory factory is understaffed."
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