Health most important: health benefits of fats and oils

Health Benefits of Fats and Oils

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health benefits of fats and oils

BENEFITS:

Provide essential fatty acids needed for hormone production.

Make possible the absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Improve the texture and flavor of food.

DRAWBACKS:

High in calories.

Saturated types may raise blood cholesterol levels.

Oils are our daily needs to survive in global world as daily nutrition requires oil usage of our life. Though out history, various plant oils have served as an essential source of concentrated energy and nutrients during times of need. Before refrigeration, preserving foods with oil was critical to survival. Today, even with a limitless supply of healthy foods, oils are an important dietary component. They add an appetizing flavor, aroma and texture to foods, because they take longer to digest than the other main food groups, they satisfy hunger.

Oils and fats belong to the lipid family and differ only in their melting points. Oils are liquid at room temperature fats are solid. The two kinds of lipids are otherwise interchangeable and are needed in moderate amounts for several essential body functions. All fats and oils have practically identical calorie content, 9 calories per gram, or 240 to 250 per ounce. They provide a concentrated source of energy and fatty acids that are essential to build and maintain cell walls. Fats are also necessary to make growth and sex hormones and prostaglandins (the hormone like substances that regulate many body processes), as well as to absorb and use fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

health benefits of fats and oils

Among the oldest crops for oil are OLIVES, which have been cultivated for both oil and fruits in the Mediterranean region of Europe for at least 6,000 years and sesame, grown from Africa to India. Coconut palms and oil palms flourished untended in the tropics, where foragers gathered the nuts to extract oils. As techniques for extracting and preserving oil have improved, many more plants have been introduced to cultivation. Currently the main oil crops are coconut, corn, cottonseed, olive, palm, peanut, rapeseed (marketed as canola), soybean, and sunflower. Recently much research has been focused on methods of modifying cholesterol free vegetable oil to take the place of saturated animal fats.

Most vegetable oils are concentrated in seeds or fruits, which are broken down by pressing or grinding. For some oils the tissues that remain after pressing are further treated with solvents and heat to remove the last of the oil. Virgin oils are those extracted by pressing alone. Most oils are refined by lye treatment and centrifugation to remove undesirable solids, filtration to bleach the oil, and steam deodorization some go through winterization to remove substances that crystallize and make the oil cloudy when it is chilled.

health benefits of fats and oils

HEALTHY PROFILE OF OIL:

Oils contain varying amounts of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids. It’s not understood why highly saturated fats interfere with the removal of artery clogging LDL (low density lipoprotein) cholesterol from the blood. What is known is that polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats tend to lower LDL cholesterol. This is the reason people concerned about cholesterol are encouraged to avoid most saturated fats and increase their consumption of mono and polyunsaturated. The saturated fatty acids mostly responsible for raising cholesterol are muriatic and politic acid. Coconut, cottonseed, palm and palm kernel oils all contain high levels of these damaging fatty acids. Palm, palm kernel and coconut oils, like animal fats, are solid at room temperature and are highly saturated. The best all purpose dietary oils are canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean and sunflower oils, which have low levels of saturated fats.

Oils used to make margarines and shortenings are hydrogenated to give them a solid consistency and increase their shelf life. The hydrogenation process in effect turns polyunsaturated into saturates and raises levels of fatty acids, which increase level of the detrimental LDL cholesterol. Nevertheless, margarine (fortified with vitamins A and D to match the value of dairy products) is better for cholesterol watchers than butter. Approximately 20% of the fat in hard margarine and 13% of the fat in soft margarine is saturated, both of these products have much less than the 68% saturated fat content of butter, which is also high in cholesterol.

health benefits of fats and oils

OIL USING:

Monitor your oil consumption by buying single source oils, such as pure canola or pure olive, rather than blended oils. Blended oil often contains an overwhelming proportion of the cheapest and probably least healthful oil mentioned, with only a token amount of the more expensive better quality oil. Check labels, too for the oil content of processed commercial foods, especially baked goods, if a label states” Contains one or more of the following oils, corn, safflower, or coconut”, the product is probably made only with coconut oil because it’s the least expensive of the three listed oils.

Oils add a distinctive flavor and texture to salads and sauces, along with margarines; they can replace dairy fats in most baking recipes. Oils are almost indispensable in the preparation of foods for grilling, broiling, and roasting. When frying keep oil absorption low by making sure that the oil is at the correct temperature before you add new foods. Use an oil thermometer if you find it hard to judge the temperature. Before serving fried foods, drain off any excess oil on paper towels or bags.

health benefits of fats and oils

FATTY ACIDS (OMEGA 3):

FISH oils contain omega 3 fatty acids, which protect against heart disease and may help people with certain autoimmune diseases as well. The full benefits of the oil can be obtained from eating fish two or three times a week, however some fish oils are high in cholesterol, which is undesirable for people on low cholesterol diets. The protective fatty acids are also found in several plant oils and many experts believe that these sources are preferable to fish. Good omega 3 sources are oils from evening primrose, rapeseed (canola), and walnuts. The use of fish oil supplements is not recommended, because they are high in cholesterol, and when taken in large amounts, they inhabit clotting and can result in bleeding problems.

health benefits of fats and oils

MINERAL OILS:

Oils that have been extracted from petroleum and other forms of non digestible hydrocarbons are sometimes used as laxatives, particularly by people who are trying to lose weight rapidly by purging. This is a dangerous practice that interferes with the absorption of many nutrients, especially fat soluble vitamins. It may also cause embarrassing bowel leakage.