2024-03-11 12:20·Beijing News
Oil is an essential part of our daily diet, not only adding texture and taste to food, but also providing the energy that the body needs. However, eating too much oil and choosing the wrong oil can lead to a series of health problems.
Friends who like to go to the supermarket will definitely notice that many of the edible oil shelves placed in the "C" position are high-oleic edible oils, and there are many claims on the Internet that high-oleic edible oils are healthier. What exactly is high oleic cooking oil, does it have special health effects, and does high oleic acid help with oil reduction?
Learn about cooking oils
First of all, let's understand what edible oil is. Although people's lives are inseparable from it, many people don't actually know about it.
Edible oil includes vegetable oil and animal oil, and its main components are linear fatty acids containing 18~22 carbons. According to different structures, fatty acids are further divided into saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. The structural differences give the three fatty acids different characteristics. Among them, saturated fatty acids have the most stable structure and stronger high temperature resistance, and edible oil containing more saturated fatty acids is more suitable for daily frying and high-temperature stir-frying. However, consuming too much saturated fatty acids may lead to an increase in LDL, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Monounsaturated fatty acids are fatty acids that contain a double bond, which contains antioxidants that can help the body fight free radical damage and help lower cholesterol levels, which is beneficial for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health. Although it is not as stable as saturated fatty acids, it is also more resistant to high temperatures and can be used for stir-frying.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids have two or more double bonds on the carbon chain, which is the most unstable fatty acid among the three fatty acids, and is not suitable for high-temperature cooking, but is more suitable for cold dressing.
All edible oils contain these three fatty acids, but there are certain differences in the proportion of the three in different edible oils. From a health point of view, the intake of saturated fatty acids should not be excessive, and it is generally believed that it should be controlled below 10% of the total fat intake, and an appropriate increase in the intake of unsaturated fatty acids is beneficial to health.
What is oleic acid
Oleic acid is a type of monounsaturated fatty acid, that is, monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acids. Oleic acid is often found in animals and plants in the form of glycerides, that is, both animal fats and vegetable oils and fats contain oleic acid, but there is a difference in content. Oleic acid accounts for 40%~50% of the fatty acids of animal fat, and changes greatly in vegetable oil, tea oil can be as high as 80%, peanut oil up to 50%, olive oil is 55%~83%, and coconut oil is only about 5%.
At present, there is no clear regulation on the content of oleic acid, but there is a view that the oleic acid content of more than 75% can be called high oleic edible oil.
In 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement that vegetable oils with up to 70% oleic acid content can be recognized as having cardiovascular health benefits. Replacing saturated fatty acids with oleic acid can reduce the proportion of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol that induce the onset of coronary heart disease, and has the effects of antioxidant, cholesterol reduction, blood lipid reduction, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health. Relevant domestic studies have also pointed out that oleic acid has the effect of reducing blood cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein and increasing high-density lipoprotein to a certain extent.
Is high oleic cooking oil healthier
According to the existing research, oleic acid, as a monounsaturated fatty acid, does have certain health effects. Some studies believe that the higher the oleic acid content, the higher the smoke point of the edible oil, which can reduce the harmful chemicals produced at high temperatures. This is also an important reason why many people favor high oleic acid edible oil, of course, it is also related to the promotion of some products.
However, further research is needed on how much oleic acid can play a role in entering the human body, or how much oleic acid can be eaten. Oleic acid content is not the only criterion for evaluating the quality of edible oil, and the choice of edible oil should also take into account the individual's dietary needs and cooking methods. For example, olive oil has a high oleic acid content and also contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids, which can be destroyed if used for high-temperature cooking.
In addition, according to the recommendations of the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2022), the daily intake of edible oil should be controlled at 25~30 grams. Excessive intake of edible oil will also increase the risk of chronic diseases such as obesity and dyslipidemia, especially in people with hyperlipidemia and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and further control of oil intake is required. Although animal fats also contain a lot of oleic acid, more of them are saturated fatty acids, and eating too much of them is not good for health. Therefore, no matter what kind of edible oil you choose, controlling your intake according to your own health status is the basic premise of health.
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Edited by Li Yilinzi