I was recently asked by a patient, “What is the best oil to cook with?” That is a great question amidst the significant amount of misinformation on cooking oils found on the internet. Although I was aware of the toxic effects of vegetable oils I was not aware of the extent of the toxic effect and the serious disorders that are associated with using these oils.
The damaging effects of vegetable oils coupled with the excess sugar the food industry markets to our children creates a powerful synergistic promotion of obesity, neurological disorders, cancer, heart disease and asthma.
It is time that you sit back and ask these questions:
• Why is obesity such a rampant condition in children with approximately one in four children being obese?
• Why are so many children getting Adult Onset Diabetes that they can no longer use the name “Adult Onset”?
• Why is cancer in children growing at alarming rates?
Keep in mind that the cancer industry is a $150 billion dollar market for the healthcare sector and obesity is a $100 billion dollar market. Therefore, don’t think that you will be told by your doctor, the food industry or the American Cancer Society what oils you should use. Would you want to lose $250 billion?
Okay back to the question about the oils…
Let’s start with the most common oils used in the United States…vegetable oils.
They are made from vegetables so they MUST be healthy…right?! Wrong. When vegetable oils are heated or reheated you will create high amounts of a toxin with known connections to heart disease and neurological disorders according to new research.
The toxin, called 4-hydroxy-trans-2-nonenal (HNE), forms in high amounts in polyunsaturated oils that have linoleic acid in them. The heating of these oils converts the linoleic acid to the toxic compound, HNE. Here is a list of the vegetable oils from the lowest levels of linoleic acid to the highest: canola, soybean, corn and sunflower.
“There’s a tremendous literature in biochemistry on HNE, a library of studies going back 20 years. It’s a very toxic compound,” said lead researcher A. Saari Csallany, a professor of food chemistry and nutritional biochemistry at the University of Minnesota. This toxin, HNE, is increased the longer you cook the oil and the higher the temperature of the oil.
According to Csallany, HNE has a long pedigree as a health threat to humans. Numerous studies have linked HNE consumption to increased risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s disease, liver ailments and even cancer, she said. Donna Garren, a regulatory affairs executive with the National Restaurant Association, which represents more than 358,000 of the nation’s eating establishments, said there are no industry-wide rules currently in place governing the choice and maintenance of cooking oils.
As to changing the oil, she added, “There is mention of maintenance of oils in the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s] Food Code, and it leaves it to the discretion of the operator, based on the cleanliness of the oils.”
Interesting…no industry regulation and no FDA regulation. It is simply left to the discretion of the operator. Did they miss the twenty years of research showing the increase mortality by using these oils at high temperatures for long periods of time?
Do you think the fast food restaurant owners want to pay for changing the oils more often or do you think they want to pay the additional fees of discarding the old oil if there are no regulations? The good news (here comes more of my sarcasm) is that they found the same concentration of HNE toxin in the fries cooked in the oil as they found in the oil itself… hungry anyone?
In the deep fryer at your favorite fast food restaurant vegetable oils are heated all day at high temperatures. No that they are opening for breakfast they are being heated significantly longer than the six hours it takes to decompose the oils and release high levels of the HNE toxin. At the end of the day they are turned off and then reused the following day! Here is an important point about the buildup of the HNE toxin. It is the collective amount of time the oil is heated NOT simply the total heating at one time. Therefore reusing vegetable oils numerous times at high temperatures denatures and decomposes the oil faster making it an even more dangerous poison. Are you ready to get Super Sized?
HNE toxicity revolves around the fact that it reacts damages proteins, DNA and RNA, causing diseases and premature death. As a doctor I will tell you that whenever you hear the words “damage” and “DNA” in the same sentence…it is not good.
Of all the vegetable oils canola oil will create the least amount of HNE toxin. Canola oil is claimed by some to be a toxic substance that contains erucic acid which is a dangerous toxin. The truth is that canola oil is made from Rapeseeds that do contain erucic acid, however in the seed splitting processing used to make conola oil these levels are reduced. Canola oil is not the best oil for cooking.
Olive oil is a great oil. It is a highly unsaturated oil which has been shown to have positive effect on cardiovascular disease. However, olive is not as stable when heated at high temperatures. It is best to use olive oil in the final stages of cooking and lower temperatures for short periods of time.
The best oil to cook with is coconut oil. Coconut oil is stable when using in cooking at higher temperatures and it has incredible health benefits including weight loss, improving thyroid function, enhancing immune function and keeping the skin looking young and healthy. When purchasing coconut oil it is important to use organic virgin coconut oil.
