As the old saying goes, "the people take food as the sky", the food culture of the mainland has a long history, and has developed cooking techniques such as steaming, stir-frying, bursting, stewing, frying, frying, and roasting, and edible oil can be said to be a necessity for cooking. Rational use of oil not only helps to prevent and treat hyperlipidemia, but also helps to reduce the risk of obesity, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and certain tumors, which is of great significance to health. So, how can you use cooking oil properly?
There are many types of vegetable oils and good nutrition
Currently, vegetable oils are the protagonists of the edible oil market. Vegetable oil is an oil extracted from plant seeds, fruits, or nuts, and the common ones are soybean oil, corn oil, peanut oil, canola oil, olive oil, etc.
The nutritional value of vegetable oil should be comprehensively evaluated from the aspects of digestibility, essential fatty acid content, fat-soluble vitamin content and stability. Among them, the digestibility, the content and stability of essential fatty acids are closely related to the types of fatty acids contained in vegetable oils, so the nutritional value of vegetable oils is mainly reflected by the fatty acids contained in them.
Fatty acids can be divided into three categories according to the saturation and unsaturation of hydrocarbon chains, namely saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Fats rich in monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids are liquid at room temperature, and most of them are vegetable oils, such as peanut oil, corn oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, etc., except coconut oil, cocoa butter, palm oil.
Fats with saturated fatty acids as the main components are solid at room temperature, and most of them are animal fats, such as butter, mutton fat, lard, etc. There are exceptions, as fish oil, although it is an animal fat, is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and is therefore liquid at room temperature.
Studies have shown that monounsaturated fatty acids can regulate blood lipids and prevent atherosclerosis, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, etc., are polyunsaturated fatty acids that cannot be synthesized by the body and can only be ingested from food (mainly from vegetable oils), and nutritionists call them essential fatty acids. Without them, the human body will develop slowly, and even cause damage to the liver, kidneys, nerves, etc.
How to consume cooking oil reasonably
Excessive intake of edible oil can cause chronic diseases such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Therefore, the reasonable intake of edible oil should start from both quality and quantity.
First, it is recommended that you use vegetable oil as the main cooking oil. Different vegetable oils contain different fatty acids or other nutrients, so it is important to diversify the types of vegetable oils. When choosing vegetable oils, it is recommended to give preference to vegetable oils with high unsaturated fatty acid content and low saturated fatty acid content, such as olive oil, peanut oil, etc. In addition, different types of vegetable oil can be used in rotation to avoid nutritional imbalance caused by long-term consumption of a single vegetable oil.
Second, the amount of oil eaten should be appropriate, the Chinese Nutrition Society's Dietary Balance Pagoda recommends the use of edible oil is 25 grams per person per day, but the specific intake should also be determined according to the individual's age, gender, physical condition and activity level. For example, patients with high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and overweight and obesity can consume less cooking oil. At the same time, from a health point of view, it is recommended to minimize the intake of animal oil under the premise of appropriate oil intake.
Bookmark the diagram below to learn about the composition of different cooking oils
Source: Healthy China