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"You're Semi Evil! Quasi evil! you're the margarine of evil!" - Dr Evil taunting his Son in "The Spy Who Shagged Me"
Now that trans-fats are in decline, a new menace is now upon us. The Lipid Hydro-peroxides are the nasty oxidised molecules that are formed in unsaturated vegetable oils when extensively heated.
Without the stabilising effects of saturated fats, trans-fats or anti-oxidants, the oils will readily oxidize on frying.
Unsaturated vegetable oils that are low in anti-oxidants are the most prone to producing these nasties, and they are per molecule, far more dangerous than the nastiest trans-fat molecule!
The use of canola oil, sunflower oil and soybean oils for frying has resulted in increasing our exposure to these nasty oxidizing molecules. Now that hydrogenated oils are finally on the decrease, we can expect this problem to get much worse.
Fast-Food stores that are replacing hydrogenated oils for less-refined unsaturated oils, are replacing one evil for another more deadly poison!
The use of rice-bran oil and virgin olive oils for frying will give some relief from LHPs, but when oils are used repeatedly, the only safe option is to use stable saturated oils like palm oils and tallows, and even then regularly replace frying oils.
LHPs are strong oxidants in our body and seem to be responsible for producing free radicals in our body, causing damage to our cells DNA.
Scientific research into the dangers of LHPs is not as extensive as studies into trans-fats, but it is getting some attention now. We can expect more in the future with estimates of health problems these are responsible.
Foods High in LHPs - to avoid
- Unsaturated Cooking Oils, sunflower, canola, soybean oil etc (especially after used in frying)
- Salad dressings using canola oil and soybean oil
- Most processed foods and supermaket baked goods
- All Margarines (including olive oil and low trans spreads)
- Fried Goods, potato chips, corn chips
- Fast Food fries and chips, cooked in unsaturated vegetable oils*
* - Foods deep fried in rice-bran oil and or virgin olive oil will not have as high levels of LHPs, but are still not as safe as using Palm oils and high saturated animal fats.
Making safe Frying Oils
Use a base oil of beef tallow, coconut oil or palm oil (90%), mix with a small amount of sesame oil (non solvent extracted) for its unique heat-activated anti-oxidants.
High saturated palm oils are the most stable oil, containing already high levels of anti-oxidants (Vitamin E). Palm Kernel oil however is mostly mono-unsaturated and is not as suitable. Beef and lamb fats are the most stable animal fats, being 50-60% saturated, but are not high in anti-oxidants.
Pig fat and poulty fats are mostly mono-unsaturated, and are not as suitable.
Coconut oil, with its very high levels of short-chain saturated fats is extremely stable, however by itself it is volatile (evaporates quickly) and is not high in anti-oxidants, so will still require some sesame oil to protect the unstaturated components and slow down evaporation.
Chefs/cooks who require deep frying fats, should experiment with different mixes, to see which give best durability, flavour and are cost-effective. Oils will tend to go brown and maybe smell slighly off when the anti-oxidants have been used up.
Because of the instability of Omega 3 and 6, consumption of deep fried foods will never be a great source of essential fatty acids, and should never be promoted as such.
When cooked in stable fresh oils, deep fried foods can be healthy and nutritious. |
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9 Comments
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Comment By: Gordon Rouse |
3:58PM 2/12/2006 |
| Just letting you know, this page is now open for comments |
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Comment By: Ian Hewsion |
9:09PM 11/12/2007 |
| Hi Gordon I own a fish and chip shop and was wondering if you have any advice on the types of oils and possible percentages of any mixes that may work? Thanx kind regards Ian |
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Comment By: Gordon Rouse |
10:42AM 12/12/2007 |
Sorry, my understanding is purely theoretical, I know some of the commercial tallows in New Zealand are good, but they do also add preservative 219 to the oil to get extra frying life, which may be a concern.
If you want to try with natural unprocessed oils, I suggest you try unrefined palm oils from http://www.elaeisorganic.com/palmoil.html. They are an Aussie distributor for organic palm oils - (so no issue of rainforest destruction). You could be the first Fish & Chip shop to use organic palm oil? - not sure if it is cost effective, if they have bulk rates maybe? Any mix of palm oil and coconut oil is worth trying, but too much coconut oil will be too volatile as it is a light oil.
Otherwise, try sourcing tallow from a meatworks, (the same stuff in the supermarkets where it is called dripping) then perhaps add a small amount of sesame oil (for more anti-oxidants) - I have heard that works. (Dr Mary Enig mentions it here: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/howtransform.html) Sesame oil is expensive, but I would assume you only use it in a ratio of maybe 1:20 or even less, but I cannot find any certain information here. Tallow by itself is fairly stable, especially New Zealand Tallow, which is from grass-fed cows, so the anti-oxidant levels are quite high already.
Whatever you do, it will be a superior choice to the canola/sunflower oil mixtures many places are using.
Of course, unrefined oils will impart flavours to the food, but if they are good quality oils, this is hopefully a benefit. Most commercial frying oils are designed to be as flavourless as possible, but in doing so they remove natural antioxidants, and replace them with unnatural antioxidants/preservatives. |
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Comment By: ellen sue spicer |
9:17AM 19/12/2007 |
| How about macadamia oil for frying since it has a high smoke point? Thanks, ellen sue spicer |
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Comment By: Gordon Rouse |
1:12AM 20/12/2007 |
Macadamia oil is very low in polyunsaturates, which must make it reasonably stable for frying.
Have found it very good for sauteing vegetables, and mixes well with butter or tallow from a flavour perspective. (Chefs might be horrifed!)
If you can afford it for deep frying, I would probably suggest you mix it with coconut oil, to get the saturate level up for extra stability. The coconut oil is very stable but also very volatile, so I guess they would compliment each other well? |
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Comment By: Susan Haldeman |
6:15PM 5/1/2008 |
| I liked some of the comments |
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Comment By: Jerry Collins |
11:09AM 24/7/2008 |
| What do you think about a 50-50 mixture of coconut oil and rice bran oil? The rice bran oil has high smoke point and antioxidants. How would this compare to the other mixtures you have suggested? |
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Comment By: Gordon Rouse |
12:46PM 24/7/2008 |
Hi Jerry
My guess, is the mixture you suggest would be a very good frying oil. Rice -bran oil has many good attributes - high in anti-oxidants and mostly monounsaturated (which is moderately stable). Coconut oil would probably improve its stability even further.
My one major concern with rice-bran oil is that it is not an easy oil to extract, and there will be traces of hexane left from the extraction.
My preference is always to stick with oils that can be extracted mechanically (ie without chemicals).
If I had a lab, I would love to put all these theories to the test! |
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Comment By: Rudy Horwitz |
10:54AM 7/11/2008 |
| Can rancid oil, used as a base for budesonide steroid, cause stomach ulceration in a small (8-pound) dog? |
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Current Poll Results
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The milk I consume most is: |
Naturalea 4% unhomogenised (
13 %)
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Farmhouse (4%) unhomogenised (
5 %)
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Standard (3.3%) homogenised (
8 %)
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Low Fat Milk Homogenised (
33 %)
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Real Farm Milk - non pasteurised (
41 %)
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