A Guide to Choosing Healthy Oils

All of the oils listed below have a combination of three fatty acids: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Once you know the percentages of these three fatty acids in your oils, it is a cinch to know which oils are healthy to eat, and which oils you need to stay away from.

Saturated fatty acids pack together tightly, making oils that contain a large percentage of them extremely stable when exposed to heat and light. Oils that have a high percentage of saturated fatty acids are your best choice for cooking.

Monounsaturated fatty acids do not pack together as tightly as saturated fatty acids do. They are relatively stable when exposed to heat, so oils that contain a high percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids are a fair choice for cooking.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids do not pack together very well. They are unstable when extracted out of whole foods, so oils that have a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids tend to produce significant amounts of free radicals when exposed to heat. These oils should never be used for cooking.

Here's a look at the fatty acid composition of fourteen oils that are commonly available at regular grocery and health food stores:

Coconut Oil:

By far, the best choice for cooking. For more information on why coconut oil can dramatically improve your health, please read my article on the health benefits of coconut oil.

Palm Oil:

Of all the vegetable oils, it is second only to coconut oil in its ability to remain stable when exposed to heat. If you did not use palm oil when you were growing up, you might find its taste and odor to be objectionable.

Olive Oil:

Its high percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids makes it relatively stable when exposed to heat. For cooking, it is the next best choice after coconut and palm oil. If you have difficulty maintaining your ideal weight, use olive oil sparingly, as its monounsaturated fatty acids are quite long in structure, which makes them more prone to being stored as fat than short or medium chain fatty acids. Believe it or not, butter is less likely to cause weight gain than olive oil because it contains a high percentage of short and medium chain fatty acids.

Avocado Oil:

Like olive, oil, it has a high percentage of monounsaturated fatty acids, which makes it relatively stable when exposed to heat. Avocado oil is best used for skin moisturizing purposes. However, coconut oil is also an excellent skin moisturizer, and is less expensive per ounce than avocado oil.

Peanut Oil:

Because it has slightly more monounsaturated fatty acids than polyunsaturated fatty acids, peanut oil is relatively stable when exposed to heat. If you are going to use peanut oil, I recommend that you use it only on occasion.

Sesame Oil:

Has almost equal percentages of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. It shouldn't be used for cooking on a regular basis, and should be used raw only on occasion.

Canola Oil:

Although it contains a high percentage of relatively stable monounsaturated fatty acids, canola oil goes rancid quite easily, and relative to olive oil, forms high concentrations of trans fatty acids. Canola oil has also been linked to vitamin E deficiency and heart disease, especially if a person is not getting enough saturated fatty acids in his or her diet. I recommend staying away from canola oil completely.

Corn, Sunflower, Safflower, and Cottonseed Oils:

I recommend staying away from these oils completely. All of them contain large percentages of polyunsaturated fatty acids. They also have high concentrations of omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause a variety of health problems as described in a previous article.

Hemp and Flaxseed Oil:

You should never cook with either of these oils because of their high concentrations of unstable polyunsaturated fatty acids. If their manufacturers have minimzed exposure to heat and light with their processing and bottling techniques, a small amount of these oils in their raw forms can be a part of a healthy diet. However, it is much better to eat their seeds freshly ground.

Grape seed Oil:

Grape seed oil should never be used for cooking. As with most other vegetable oils, it contains a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids which produce signifcant amounts of harmful free radicals when exposed to heat.

Please Note: I calculated all of the fatty acid percentages listed above using the nutrient profiles for each oil as listed under the USDA nutrient database.

Article Tools

• Add new comment
• Email this page
• Printer-friendly version
• Share

Alter Text Size: