What we can do practically is to use cooking oils that do give us some health benefits, and to avoid those cooking oils that are unhealthy. For doing this, we have to stay away from edible oils that are high on saturated fats, and use those that have high levels of monounsaturated and unsaturated fats.  After all, it is the saturated fats that spoil your health by promoting the formation of the cholesterol. Saturated fats are also known as “bad fats” or low-density lipoproteins (LDL). On the other hand, monounsaturated and unsaturated fats are “good fats” that help to remove the “bad fats”. These “good fats” are also called high-density lipoproteins (HDL).

Olive oil is a wonderful edible oil that has 73% of good fats (monounsaturated fatty acids), while having only 14% of saturated fats. Olive oil is the typical cooking oil in Mediterranean countries. 

However, on the downside, it must be stated that the unsaturated fats in soyabean oil gets oxidised at frying temperatures to form toxic compounds. In order to overcome this problem, as well as to increase the shelf life, hydrogenation of soyabean oil is necessary to prevent oxidation. But hydrogenation produces unnatural trans-fats which has some negative effects on the human body. Owing to this reason, regardless of the fact that soyabean oil is a healthy option, the consumption of soyabean oil should be limited to a certain degree. A modified version called the high-oleic soyabean oil is in a developmental stage. In this modified version, the soyabean oil is expected to retain all its beneficial properties without the drawbacks of hydrogenation.

​Although many health experts may advise us that the best way to be healthy is never to use cooking oils, most of us would realise that this advice is not a practical one. Some of us may have even tried following the health experts’ advice for a limited period of time, only to give up after sometime. You cannot spend a lifetime under such extreme dietary restrictions, particularly when there are ways and means to avoid the unhealthy effects of cooking oil.

Peanut oil (or Groundnut oil) is another good source of edible cooking oil, and is widely used for cooking purposes in many South-East and South Asian countries. It has great taste that is suitable especially for frying and sautéing. However, the problem with peanut oil is that some people have an allergy (a type of hypersensitivity response) to this oil. 

The reactions may include symptoms like vomiting, pain abdomen, swelling of lips and throat leading to breathing difficulty, chest congestion and death. It is, therefore, advised to avoid any food preparations that contain peanut products in these individuals. If you are sure that you are not allergic to peanut or peanut oil, then you would stand to reap a number of benefits by using it as your cooking medium. This oil contains heart-friendly good fats (monounsaturated fats) that lower the levels of bad cholesterol in our body without lowering thelevels of good cholesterol. It is a good source of -sitosterol which blocks cholesterol absorption in the gut and thereby can reduce cholesterol levels by 10% to 15%. Peanut oil also contains resveratrol, a polyphenol antioxidant, which has been found to have protective function against cancers, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer's disease and viral/fungal infections. Studies suggests that resveratrol reduces stroke risk by alteration of molecular mechanisms in blood vessels (reducing susceptibility to vascular damage through decreased activity of angiotensin, a systemic hormone causing blood vessel constriction that would elevate blood pressure) and by increasing production of the vasodilator hormone, nitric oxide. Peanut oil contains valuable amounts of anti-oxidant vitamin E required for maintaining the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and skin by protecting it from harmful oxygen free radicals.

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