THE 'FAT' ARGUMENT..Cooking Oils: All you need to know.

Oily, buttery & fatty foods spike the Blood Cholesterol Levels. But, there are some healthier choices that not only help us keep the unwanted cholesterol in check, they also offer some important nutrients, and help raise the ‘Good Cholesterol.’ All you need to do is choose the right fats that not only add flavors to your food, but also keep you healthy..!!

Along with protein and carbs, fats are an important component of any nutrition program. Fats provide more than double the calories (w/w) as compared to proteins and carbohydrates. So a small amount of fat contributes a large amount of calories. Fats can also cause High Blood Cholesterol, which can lead to serious cardiac ailments & complications.

But, fats add flavor to food, and also enhance the flavors of other ingredients in any recipe. We also need some healthy fat in our diet to maintain good health, a healthy weight, and normal physiological functions.

Besides, some of the essential nutrients in our food (Vit A, D, E & K) are fat-soluble, and our body needs dietary fats to absorb these nutrients. So, fats play a vital role in maintaining good health. 

Edible fats are classified in 3 major types:

1. Saturated fat:

Saturated fat is solid at room temperature, which is why it is also known as "solid fat." It is mostly found in animal foods, such as milk, cheese, and meat. Poultry and fish have less saturated fat than red meat.

Saturated fat is also found in tropical oils, such as coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter. You'll find tropical oils in many snacks and in non-dairy foods, such as coffee creamers and whipped toppings. Foods made with butter, margarine, or shortening (cakes, cookies, and other desserts) have a lot of saturated fat. Saturated fat can raise your cholesterol. A healthy diet has less than 10% of daily calories from saturated fat.

2. Trans Fat:

Trans fats are the fats altered by hydrogenation, a process that hardens the fat at room temperature, and increases its shelf life. These are considered to be most unhealthy type of fat, as they raise your cholesterol. Trans fats can be found in the following food items:

· Processed foods.

· Snack foods, such as chips and crackers..

· Bakery products (Cookies, pastries, puff pastries etc)

· Some margarine and salad dressings.

.  Foods made with shortening and partially hydrogenated oils.

3. Unsaturated Fats: 

Derived generally from plant oils, Unsaturated Fats are liquid at room temperature. Replacing the Saturated & Trans Fats with Unsaturated Fats may help with lowering the cholesterol levels. So, try to use these fats as much as possible. There are two types of Unsaturated fats i.e.: 

a. Mono Unsaturated Fats: These fats are found in Olive oil, canola oil, avocado oil, walnut oil and some other fruit & vegetable based oils. These fats can help you with boosting the good cholesterol (HDL) & reducing the Bad Cholesterol (LDL), thereby preventing heart disease.

b. Poly Unsaturated Fats: Found in sunflower, sesame, soybean and corn oils etc. It is also present in most seafoods. These fats also help with reducing the LDL levels. The Poly Unsaturated Fats have two main components:

1. Omega 3 fatty acids: The best fat for a healthy heart, strong immune system & overall nutritive values. It is found in all the Oily Fish (Salmon, Cods, trout, Mackerels, anchovies, tuna, sardines and herrings etc.) Omega 3 fats are also found in Avocado oil, olive oil, canola oil, walnut & Flax-seed oil etc. While selecting the cooking oils, oils with high Omega 3 content should be preferred.

2. Omega 6 fatty acids: are found mostly in liquid vegetable oils like soybean oil, corn oil, and safflower oil.

Omega-6 fatty acids are used for reducing the risk of heart disease, lowering total cholesterol levels, lowering “bad” (LDL) cholesterol levels, raising “good” (HDL)cholesterol levels, and reducing cancer risk. But so far, not enough research has been done on omega-6 fatty acids to judge whether or not they are effective for healthcare uses.

All the cooking oils available in the markets contain both saturated & unsaturated fats in variable proportions. The classification of the oils is done based upon the dominant class of fats. E.g. Olive oil has 85% unsaturated fats & 15% unsaturated fat. So, it is classified as Unsaturated.