Whether we’re roasting a chicken in the oven, browning onions in a skillet, or choosing a spread for toast, oil is at the heart of our culinary endeavors.
The choices are dizzying. Around 30 different oils are currently used in cooking, from sunflower to flaxseed, avocado to coconut. Deciding which one to use can have a big impact on your health, including your cholesterol, blood pressure, and risk of cardiovascular disease.
If the headlines are to be believed, palm oil is obsolete, sunflower oil is in limbo, and there seems to be no end to the benefits extra virgin olive oil can bring to our plates. But are these claims backed by solid science, and how do the health impacts of these products compare to their environmental costs?
Is it saturated or unsaturated?
First, let’s talk about chemistry. Edible oil contains fat, which is made up of long chains of carbon atoms. Saturated fats found in red meat and dairy products are so called because each carbon atom is connected to the next carbon atom by a single bond. The remaining electrons of each carbon atom are available to form bonds with hydrogen atoms, and the molecule is completely “saturated” with this element. This structure makes these fats very hard and stable, which is why butter and lard are solid at room temperature.
Unsaturated fats, which are commonly found in plants and oily fish, have at least one double bond between adjacent carbon atoms, which reduces the number of bonds.
