Topic: The Use of Oil

[976bar]

It's come to my attention that some of us here are a bit high on the Cholestrol side of life, and would like to point out that some oils are good for you and some are not so good for you.

Things like sunflower oil, vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, grapeseed oil, groundnut oil, olive oil are all pretty good for you as they are quite low in saturated fat.

However, if cooking with oil, don't use virgin olive oil or extra virgin olive oil as it cannot tolerate the high heat used in Indian cooking and tends to break down into a more saturated fat.

[natterjak]

Sorry for dragging up such an old post, but I was interested in the bit about Olive oil breaking down to saturated fat when heated to high temps.  I found the following on this website http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/heating-olive-oil:

"MYTHS ABOUT COOKING WITH OLIVE OIL
There are some myths that have recently circulated about olive oil that we are constantly answering via email and our newsletter. Following are the two most common.

Myth: Heating Olive Oil Will Make it Saturated or Trans-fatty.
One common myth is that heating olive oil will make it saturated or trans-fatty.
This is not true. As far as making a saturated fat, according to Dr. A. Kiritsakis, a world renowned oil chemist in Athens, in his book Olive Oil from the Tree to the Table -Second edition 1998, all oils will oxidize and hydrogenate to a tiny degree if repeatedly heated to very high temperatures such as is done in commercial frying operations. Olive-pomace oils and virgin olive oils are both highly monounsaturated oils and therefore resistant to oxidation and hydrogenation. Studies have shown oxidation and hydrogenation occurs to a lesser degree in olive oil than in other oils. But in any case, the amount of hydrogenation is miniscule and no home cook would ever experience this problem.

The large refinery-like factories that take unsaturated vegetable oil and turn it into margarine or vegetable lard do so by bubbling hydrogen gas through 250 to 400