Some interesting facts about fats and oils
Over the weekend I was reading about the fatty acid composition of fats and oils derived from different sources. I came to know of some interesting facts which I wanted to share here.
Before I start with my facts, I want to give a little background about fats and oils. Fats can be either saturated (no double bonds) or unsaturated (one or more double bonds). Saturated fats (such as Indian clarified butter or ghee) are generally solid at room temperature whereas unsaturated ones (such as mustard or olive) are liquid at room temperature. Saturated fats have been shown to increase the risk for Cardiovascular disease (CVD). The reasons being very simple. The saturated fats are linear moleculaes so they can align and stack themselves over the walls of arteries and veins, thus blocking the circulation of blood. However, unsaturated fats have little branching due to the double bonds, so they are not able to align and form plaques on the walls of arteries and veins. The same analogy also results in increased risk of CVD due to high trans fat in the diet.
From the above paragraph, it is very clear that one should minimize the uptake of saturated and trans fatty acids. But only if one knows in terms of which of the most common fats and oils have lower saturated fatty acids. I complied a fatty acid composition of some of the commonly used fats and oil (Shown below)
Oil or Fat (Saturated/Unsaturated)
Mustard (5/95)
Canola (6/94)
Sunflower (12/ 88)
Corn (13/87)
Peanut (13/87)
Soybean 15 85
Olive (16/84)
Cottonseed (25/75)
Palm (50/50)
Butterfat (ghee) (66/34)
Palm kernel (83/17)
Coconut (92/8)
I guess the above compliaton is self explanatory. You want to consume oils which are in green font and the last two with bold red are a complete no-no. Heavy coconut oil consumers of south India, are you listening???
Now coming to some interesting facts, even though mustard oil is lowest in saturated fatty acids, its use for human consumption is not allowed in the US. If you are buying mustard oil in US, the label will have -- "Not for human consumption". The reason being the high content (>45%) of erucic acid in mustard oil. Erucic acid is considered to be noxious. In India, mustard oil has been traditionally been used for cooking and has been correlated with reduced risk of heart disease. Harmful effect and the strong smell of mustard oil are reduced during the typical heating it receives during cooking. However, infants do not have the sufficient enzyme in their liver to digest this longer chain erucic acid. Therefore, babies should not be given foods high in erucic acid.
Rapeseed oil is another popular oil high in erucic acid. However, Canadian scientist came up with the low erucic acid rapeseed variant which is more popular these days as the Canola oil. Canola basically stands for Canadian Oil Low Acid. Canola oil is one of the most popular oil used in the USA these days. For the experts in genetics and crop science back in India, can't we have an Inola (Indian Oil Low Acid) based on the low erucic acid varient of mustard seeds?
Before I start with my facts, I want to give a little background about fats and oils. Fats can be either saturated (no double bonds) or unsaturated (one or more double bonds). Saturated fats (such as Indian clarified butter or ghee) are generally solid at room temperature whereas unsaturated ones (such as mustard or olive) are liquid at room temperature. Saturated fats have been shown to increase the risk for Cardiovascular disease (CVD). The reasons being very simple. The saturated fats are linear moleculaes so they can align and stack themselves over the walls of arteries and veins, thus blocking the circulation of blood. However, unsaturated fats have little branching due to the double bonds, so they are not able to align and form plaques on the walls of arteries and veins. The same analogy also results in increased risk of CVD due to high trans fat in the diet.
From the above paragraph, it is very clear that one should minimize the uptake of saturated and trans fatty acids. But only if one knows in terms of which of the most common fats and oils have lower saturated fatty acids. I complied a fatty acid composition of some of the commonly used fats and oil (Shown below)
Oil or Fat (Saturated/Unsaturated)
Mustard (5/95)
Canola (6/94)
Sunflower (12/ 88)
Corn (13/87)
Peanut (13/87)
Soybean 15 85
Olive (16/84)
Cottonseed (25/75)
Palm (50/50)
Butterfat (ghee) (66/34)
Palm kernel (83/17)
Coconut (92/8)
I guess the above compliaton is self explanatory. You want to consume oils which are in green font and the last two with bold red are a complete no-no. Heavy coconut oil consumers of south India, are you listening???
Now coming to some interesting facts, even though mustard oil is lowest in saturated fatty acids, its use for human consumption is not allowed in the US. If you are buying mustard oil in US, the label will have -- "Not for human consumption". The reason being the high content (>45%) of erucic acid in mustard oil. Erucic acid is considered to be noxious. In India, mustard oil has been traditionally been used for cooking and has been correlated with reduced risk of heart disease. Harmful effect and the strong smell of mustard oil are reduced during the typical heating it receives during cooking. However, infants do not have the sufficient enzyme in their liver to digest this longer chain erucic acid. Therefore, babies should not be given foods high in erucic acid.
Rapeseed oil is another popular oil high in erucic acid. However, Canadian scientist came up with the low erucic acid rapeseed variant which is more popular these days as the Canola oil. Canola basically stands for Canadian Oil Low Acid. Canola oil is one of the most popular oil used in the USA these days. For the experts in genetics and crop science back in India, can't we have an Inola (Indian Oil Low Acid) based on the low erucic acid varient of mustard seeds?
posted by Prabhat Kumar at
8:17 PM
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