Mix Up Your Oils
Posted on August 31, 2008, under Health.
Dietary fats and oils are combinations of glycerol with fatty acids.The type of fatty acid predominant in oil plays a major role in determining its health effects: Saturated fatty acids(SFA) is bad fatty acid, mono unsaturated fatty acid(MUFA) is good fatty acid, poly unsaturated fatty acid)PUFA) are n-6 and n-3 fatty acid, which are a combination of bad and good and trans fatty acids(TFA) are very bad fatty acids.
For Indians, using a combination of oil rich in MUFA and n-3 PUFA is preferable than using a single oil.N-3 PUFA particularly for the large chunck of vegetarians among us.Hence olive oil, which has the maximum concentration of MUFA, is not enough because it does not have n-3 PUFA.The later decreases triglyceride content, irritability of the heart and inflammation of the arteries.Fatty acid compositions differ significantly.
How to mix your oils
- Oils with a high SFA content (bad fatty acid) are: coconut oil(91%), palm oil(45%) and ghee(65%)
- MUFA rich oil(good fatty acid) include: olive oil(75%), canola oil(61%), groundnut oil(50%), rice bran oil(42.5%), and palm oil(40%)
- Oils rich in n-3 PUFA (usually lacking in Indian diet) include: linseed oil(55%), mustard oil(10%), soybean oil(7%) and rice bran oil (1%).Mustardآ and canola oil have shown to exhibit similar properties, but mustard oil has high concentration of erucic acid which may be harmful.
- Oils rich in n-6 PUFA include: soybean oil)50%), olive oil(10%) and mustard oil(18%).
