Oils for cooking
The culinary habits of our culture we have instilled that “what is it tasty greasy”, however the impact of feeding following this slogan plain to see and fatten various figures: body weight, body mass index, glucose levels, levels of cholesterol, and so on.
Aware that the oil and fat are essential components in the diet of Mexican, it is important to have information to learn how to use them without risking their health.
A little history
The oils were used since ancient times. In civilizations Assyria, Babylonian, Greek and Egyptian used as fuel, and for cosmetic and culinary probably among women, as is the case today. Within its nutritional importance, it is believed that in those years the intake of fats and oils did not exceed in quantity or quality to the current recommendations. In those years the development of oil was purely artisans and will probably be done at home. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century that the manufacture of fats and oils had great technological progress to date and are still happening.
Now let’s see something that sometimes we read the labels and which relates to the composition of these foods, so they can identify what are the most recommended to prevent medical complications.
Its components and classification
Fats and oils are composed of fatty acids, which in turn are classified into saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. The fatty acids are solid at room temperature as are found in the fat-containing meat or lard, some exceptions such as palm oil and coconut which are also saturated but in liquid form and are of plant origin.
The monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids are usually found in liquid presentations unless passing through a chemical process called hydrogenation, through which the liquid oils become solid as a vegetable margarine. Here “much eye”, numerous studies have shown the deleterious effect on health by the consumption of hydrogenated fats, they raise levels of “bad” cholesterol (LDL) and lower the “good” cholesterol (HDL).
People who consume large quantities of products containing such fat or cook with them, they have more risk to suffer from heart disease than a person on the other hand consume monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils that are found in vegetables and marine products, which confer protection against various diseases depending on the type of fatty acids they contain.
Some of the beneficial effects that are proven are: reducing triglycerides and cholesterol, prevent cardiovascular disease in pregnancy are essential for the development and function of the nervous system, are called essential fatty acids and some of them belong to Families omega 6 and omega 9.
On the shelves of the stores are many oils to choose from. However, it is advisable to know what is going on the table.
Vegetable oils are sources of omega 6 fatty acids, while the olive oil, in particular, provides omega 9. Some oils such as soybean oil, canola, flaxseed or bring small quantities, not exceeding 10% of omega-3 fatty acids (alpha-linoleum acid) and are the bodies of marine origin, plants and animals, troop numbers Significant omega-3 fatty acids.
Care must be taken because they are sold many products possessing contain this type of fatty acids; however, do not have scientific studies to prove legends as “this product lowers cholesterol because it contains omega 3 and 6.” The amounts they contain are too small to produce such effects and very few that really contain significant amounts.
The best is still to consume oil supplies naturally in the various products of plant and marine that contains them. Here is a list of the most common sources.
* Monounsaturated: peanut oil, canola, olive, fish, sesame, almonds
* Polyunsaturated vegetable: Safflower oil, sunflower, corn, soy, nuts
* Polyunsaturated marine origin: salmon, tuna, sardines, Atlantic bonito, herring, anchovies, trout, and so on.
Marketing today revolves around providing added value to the food. As an example, are often found on the shelves of the supermarket offerings misleading as “100% safflower oil, canola,” and so on. “Contains no cholesterol” and clear! The vegetable oils do not contain cholesterol but some were using it to cheat because it is known that eating high amounts of cholesterol is harmful.
Some others promote the use of olive oil for cooking, however, this is a measure that affects the pocket since this type of oil generally has a high cost depending on its quality, compared with other types of oils. It costs the same to cook with a virgin olive oil with a refining of yellow color. The latter is also another myth not to be a clear oil is better, there are extra-virgin oils that have a green olive with a good amount vitamins and antioxidants (vitamin A, E and phytosterols) which help reduce the risk of diseases from the heart, only that it is now gives more importance to the color and appearance that have food for purchase.
With the new technology has been refined by removing mineral oils, vitamins and pigments that give color such “unpleasant” in view of consumers by offering a product with a bright yellow color to which he had to add back the vitamins and minerals synthetic form to prevent it from rancidity and take an unpleasant smell and taste.
Therefore, it is not that the oils that are in the market are good or bad depends on who is going to use that.
Suggestions
To prepare salad dressings or vinaigrettes and it is best to use a virgin olive oil and extra virgin if you can because their properties are preserved in oil, generally of all oils, but if this is going to be used for preparing daily Food is the only thing that has to take care of is that when heated him to not to burn. This sometimes does not necessarily have to be when he gets this black boots from starting to smoke, a sign by which it was identified that the oil is burning, so it changes chemically causing an oil becomes harmful to health.
In short an oil whose main component is the safflower, soybean, corn, sunflower, have a large amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega 6 and 3), and the olive and canola a high amount of monounsaturated (omega 9 and 6).
Cooking with any of these oils will depend on the tastes of each person by the taste that each one of them gives cooked food and its availability in the market. It must be remembered that most contain a major component and varying amounts of another. There is no mixture specified in the market that meets the necessary requirements of fatty acids recommended by organizations such as FAO / WHO, while many industries are working to provide the public with respect to oil that meets all nutritional requirements.