Refined cooking oils are made by highly intensive mechanical and chemical processes to extract the oil from the seeds. This process removes the natural nutrients from the seeds and creates a final product which oxidizes easily. The oxidation factor makes these oils more likely to break down into cancer causing free radicals within the body.
Doctors tell you this is a fantastic cooking oil because it’s low in saturated fats, high in polyunsaturated fats, and has an Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio that’s considered favorable (about 3:1). Yet what they don’t tell you is that polyunsaturated fats are fragile and oxidize in heat. So cooking with canola oil (and other modern cooking oils) will create huge amounts of oxidized fatty acids (which are carcinogenic and lead to inflammation). Is it any surprise that since our culture started following conventional dietary wisdom by embracing these modern cooking oils in the late 1970s that our heart disease, obesity, and cancer rates have skyrocketed?
Even though conventional vegetable oil is a healthier alternative to conventional animal oil, its cons far exceed its pros. Vegetable oil contains a good amount of saturated fat which stimulates the liver to produce more cholesterol. Whenever people consume too much vegetable oil or any similar oil, their liver ends up produce more cholesterol than their body needs. This is bad because it can increase the risk of heart disease.
Vegetable oils are more toxic when heated. One study reported that polyunsaturates turn to varnish in the intestines. A study by a plastic surgeon found that women who consumed mostly vegetable oils had far more wrinkles than those who used traditional animal fats. A 1994 study appearing in the Lancet showed that almost three quarters of the fat in artery clogs is unsaturated. The “artery clogging” fats are not animal fats but vegetable oils. Problems associated with an excess of polyunsaturates are exacerbated by the fact that most polyunsaturates in commercial vegetable oils are in the form of double unsaturated omega-6 linoleic acid, with very little of vital triple unsaturated omega-3 linolenic acid. Recent research has revealed that too much omega-6 in the diet creates an imbalance that can interfere with production of important prostaglandins. This disruption can result in increased tendency to form blood clots, inflammation, high blood pressure, irritation of the digestive tract, depressed immune function, sterility, cell proliferation, cancer and weight gain.
One of the hidden dangers of vegetable oils is that many of them are genetically modified. Corn, soybean, canola and cottonseed are the top genetically modified vegetable oil in the United States. US companies that manufacture genetically modified food, also known as GMO, are not required to label their food, which is why it is hard to tell if a food is genetically modified or not.
Any vegetable oil is to be consumed raw or extra virgin. Cold pressed and fresh, never refined. They should not be used for cooking at all. For cooking use only coconut oil, palm oil or butter. For cooking not using high temperature olive and sesame oil will be O. K. Just remember that our diet contain too little or no omega 3.
