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There are good fats and bad fats

Fat is essential for our cells to function, but there are good fats and bad fats. The worst are trans fats (commonly found in baked or fried goods). These fats have been shown to raise the levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol in the blood, and are linked with higher risk of heart attacks and cardiovascular disease.

Above them in the hierarchy are saturated fats (commonly found in meat and dairy products) that experts recommend should make up no more than 10% of your diet.

The healthiest fats are unsaturated fats, which are linked to lower LDL cholesterol and lower cardiovascular risks. These are commonly found in nuts, fish and vegetable oils, and can be divided into two types: polyunsaturated and monosaturated. But despite their health benefits you shouldn’t be consuming lots of unsaturated fats at the expensive of things like fruits and vegetables.

Sunflower and vegetable oils aren't as bad for us as some people claim

At the cheaper end of the range, for around £2 per litre in most supermarkets, are sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. You can often find the latter labelled as vegetable oil. These oils both contain 5-10% saturated fat, with the rest being largely monosaturated (for rapeseed) or and polyunsaturated (for sunflower).

There has been some pushback online against these oils, but Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge Nita Forouhi says that these oils are “absolutely good for us”, adding: “This is not just an opinion, there is a huge amount of research on this. When saturated fat is reduced and replaced with these oils, which are rich in the monounsaturated and the polyunsaturated fats, we get a reduction in disease risk.”

In terms of use, sunflower has a slightly higher smoke point than rapeseed oil, so can get to a higher temperature before the fats start to burn and break down. But both are likely good for frying at home.

Olive oil has the most health benefits of all the oil variants

Within the range of olive oils (between £7-9 per litre at most supermarkets) you can find different types with descriptions like ‘light’, 'virgin’ and ‘extra virgin’.

Extra virgin olive oil is closest to the original pressed state as is possible, without further refinement or processing. Virgin, regular and light olive oil are progressively more refined, with light olive oil designed to have a more neutral taste.

Despite being higher in saturated fat than either sunflower or rapeseed oil, olive oil is a healthy option thanks to its array of beneficial polyphenols and antioxidants as well as its high levels of the monounsaturated fat oleic acid. “Olive oil is, in relation to health, certainly the good guy,” says Nita.

Be careful how you use extra virgin olive oil, however

Because of its relatively low smoke point, extra virgin olive is best for dressings and, as food writer and restaurateur Tim Hayward observes, “pouring over cooked food like pasta or grilled fish.”

Tim says that he uses standard yellow olive oil for shallow frying but for deep frying he would always use something like sunflower oil, as it is cheaper than olive oil and has a higher smoke point, the point at which the fats start to break down and, as Tim says, “nasty compounds are released, making the oil taste bitter or burnt or unpleasant.”

Extra virgin olive oil is unsuitable for this kind of deeper frying, as Tim explains: “If you want to fry and you have a high temperature below the oil, if you use an oil like extra virgin olive oil, which has a low smoke point, all the green stuff that provides organic compounds in the oil, that will break down at a lower temperature and you’ll never get it high enough and it will taste horrible.”

Some oils are better suited for deep fat frying

Tim explains why, for deep frying something like chips or a battered fish, an oil like vegetable oil is best. “You want the oil to be around 175-185 °C,” he says. “To deep fat fry you need to pick an oil that has a smoke point above that. That would be a good vegetable oil, or corn oil.”

Cold pressed oils retain lots of 'goodies'

Extra virgin olive oil is a ‘cold pressed oil’, and many oils including rapeseed, sunflower, avocado and coconut have a cold pressed version where the oil is closest to its natural state.

However, despite the retention of beneficial polyphenols, antioxidants and vitamins, Nita says that there is no “hard grade evidence” to definitively favour the much more expensive pressed oils over the refined versions. “Remember you can get those goodies from a whole host of foods other than oils, such as the humble fruit and vegetable,” she says.

Some oils can only be used for salad dressings

Listener Kumar asked about two oils that claim to be very versatile: avocado oil and coconut oil. Both say they’re suitable for salads and smoothies right through to high heat cooking.

Coconut retails for around £7 a litre, similar to olive oil. While it’s very high in saturated fat, Nita’s research has found that it may not be as bad for you as butter in terms of raising LDL cholesterol, although she still recommends using it sparingly.

Avocado oil on the other hand is much more expensive at £12 per litre. If you particularly like the taste and can afford it, Nita says “knock yourself out. But there’s lots of myths around these superfoods […] and it’s just all, I’m afraid, hogwash

Tim Hayward keeps a few other oils in his kitchen – namely walnut, argan and hazelnut. But these are definitely “all just for salad dressings – they don't heat well at all,” says Tim. The restaurateur also uses sesame oil, a cheap one for frying in a wok and a better quality one “just for dressings”.

Margarine can help to reduce bad cholesterol

Butter and margarine have both have both faced public image problems over the years.

With butter, recent research has shown it may not be as bad as previously thought, but it’s still advised to keep an eye on it. “If you love butter, for instance on your toast, by all means have it,” says Nita, “but for cooking, experiment with different types of oil that will bring you some health benefits as well. Overall, keep the saturated fat intake to below 10% of calories, which is reached very rapidly if you start having things with butter or ghee.”

Margarine was once associated with partially hydrogenated oils, but Nita says: “Modern day margarines have close to zero an amount of trans fats, and when they do not contain partially hydrogenated oils or trans fatty acids, they can be part of a healthy diet and part of reducing the bad cholesterols.”

Focus on overall diet rather than oils

There are numerous pros and cons to consider with cooking oils, but Nita advises pragmatism. “I would recommend going with what taste and cost considerations you have and experiment with different types of oil that will bring you some health benefits,” she says.

For Nita, spending more on expensive oils is not necessary: “I always go back to the overall diet rather than a focus only on oils.”

To hear more from Greg's investigations into cooking oils, listen to the episode in full on 麻豆官网首页入口 Sounds.