BY JOYCE WONG JIN YI
Many people are misled by the advertisements and marketing material shared in the media about the benefits of vegetable oils that, include canola oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil, which are sold under many famous brands in Malaysia. These are the oils that you should totally avoid in your cooking.
Vegetable oils do not hold up well when exposed to high temperatures due to the high composition of polyunsaturated fats in the vegetable oils that are most vulnerable to oxidation. These oils are easily damaged and can turn into rancid, oxidized fats when overheated. Other than this, in the extraction and refining process of vegetable oil, highly toxic chemicals such as n-hexane are used in the process is also harmful to our bodies.
It’s far better to cook or fry using saturated fats like palm oil, butter, coconut oil, or ghee (clarified butter). Because the molecules in saturated fat contain strong double bonds, they’re less likely to break down and turn into harmful oxidized fats that are carcinogenic. They are more stable than refined vegetable oils.
