Choosing Wisely Among the Many Cooking Oils

Shopping for a cooking oil can be confusing. Which is the most healthful to buy? Are monounsaturates better than polyunsaturates? What about cholesterol?

“A lot of vegetable oils have created a state of cholesterol confusion,” says Janet Helm, a contributor to the Environmental Nutrition newsletter. “All vegetable oils are cholesterol-free, since cholesterol is only found in animal foods.”

Even though vegetable oils don’t contain cholesterol, some--like coconut, palm and palm-kernel oil--supply saturated fat “which boosts levels of cholesterol in the blood,” says Helm.

Mixtures of Fatty Acids

Oils are a mixture of three types of fatty acids: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

When more than one-third of the fatty acids in an oil are saturated, the oil itself is considered to be a saturated oil. When less than one-third of the fatty acids are saturated, the oil is considered unsaturated.

Unsaturated oils are classified into: 1) polyunsaturated oil, which includes safflower, sunflower, corn, soybean and cottonseed oils, and 2) monounsaturated oil, which includes olive, peanut and canola oils.

The most important consideration when choosing a cooking oil is the amount of saturated fat the oil contains. Oils low in saturated fat are more healthful. For example, corn oil (mostly polyunsaturated fat) and olive oil (mostly monounsaturated fat) can be used for healthful cooking.

Recommended Levels

The American Heart Assn. recommends that no more than 30% of the calories you eat come from fat. Of that 30%, less than 10% should be saturated fat, with the remainder divided between polyunsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat.