Leave a Reply to Judy Wong Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

67 Comments

  1. Interesting article. Also to note olive and avocado oils are both fruit oils which def got me thinking!

    One thing I see too is your focus on heart disease only. There are other health concerns like liver disease and pancreatitis when it comes to saturated fats/oils.

  2. I was quite pleased when you started your other page about the worst cooking oils using these 3 categories:
    (1) Whether it contributes to inflammation
    (2) The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids
    (3) How it is processed

    but unfortunately you did not touch much on the 2nd, and in my opinion the most important.
    I have done my research & I found that your suggestions for healthy cooking oils may not be correct.
    I will not go into detail, but I hope for the benefit of your readers, thst they do their own research like what I had done.

    For me & my family, we only use Camelina ( not Canola, or Camille, but Camelina) , for all our cooking, it has an ideal ratio of 2:1 for Omega3: Omega6 & one tablespoon in the cooking is enough Omega3 for the whole family. With its high Smoke point, it is ideal for Frying. Pls don’t use Extra virgin olive oil in your frying, it has a low smoke point & it turns toxic. You can research it, & don’t worry that it is also used for horses & dogs, it is excellent for human consumption. It may be costly but its worth every drop.

    1. good comment — noticed right away that the “bad” article focused on Omega 3/6 ratio and “good” article never mentioned the ration WTH?

  3. Palm oil really?!! Not only it has been proven to be bad for our health, we destroy our planet by deforestation in order to produce it. It is banned in Europe . Read articles in mayo clinics please. Trans fats and tropical oils are bad for you.
    Some details about what fat is good for us, might change every decade. But some facts have been proven without doubts. Nations that follow Mediterranean diet have the lowest rate of cardiovascular diseases. That diet includes olive oil, fish and lots of vegetables. Nations that use palm oil and palm kernel oil have very high rate of hearth diseases. Using processed carbs is also an important factor but you must use the right cooking oil also.

  4. I enjoyed your article. However, I would never recommend a healthy conscience consumer to use butter or palm oil.
    There are better and tastier ways to consume good cholesterol, like with olives and avocados, than using a fat based product invented in the 1800s. All sources of palm oil and all products using palm oil should be banned until deforestation is stopped and fully reversed – no exceptions! These pathetic workarounds are an excuse to use a product you know is wrong while we destroy our planet and leave our children with no future. Stop it.
    I use coconut oil in my cooking or nothing at all. Invest in a Swiss Diamond nonstick pan that will last 20 years and season your food with fresh herbs and spices.
    Thank you for caring enough to write about healthy alternatives.

    1. If you eat REAL butter (from organic sources) there is nothing healthier for your body. I would beg to differ with you on that point.

      Coconut oil is wonderful but it cannot be used in making salad dressings because it gets solid when it is in the fridge.

      I much prefer avocado oil in/on salads whether all alone of mixed with spices, etc.

  5. Ghee, butter, palm oil, and coconut oil are all saturated fats. Saturated fats cause inflammation which is why monounsaturated fats such as olive oil are good for you because they reduce inflammation. Inflammation causes stress on the body and with stress comes health problems because nothing works well under stress. And there is no direct correlation between the cholesterol you consume and the cholesterol that is absorbed by your body. The liver breaks down cholesterol you’ve consumed and rebuilds it into either HDL or LDL cholesterol depending on what and how much the body need in that moment. But this doesn’t mean that butter or other saturated fats are healthy for you (not to mention the caloric content of each) because they effect the body in more ways than just your cardiovascular system. Please don’t feed to the nutritionally under-educated. What I would love is if you had references to actual peer reviewed articles to back your “facts” rather than just trying to get a blog post done and out of the way.

    1. I disagree, as do many in the health community. Saturated fats have been unjustly vilified for years. You can read more about it and see my sources here: https://healyeatsreal.com/5-cooking-oils-think-healthybut-arent/

    2. fat is fat and an ounce of butter has about the same calories as an ounce of olive oil

      look up 1 tbsp butter and one tablespoon olive oil

      one has 126 calories and one has 100 — but you will be surprised which is which

      there is a place to enjoy god tasing foods in moderation

      cake everyday, not good
      cake on your birthday not bad
      cake for breakfast – pancake, waffle, muffin, biscuit — twice a month

    1. I disagree, as do many in the health community. Saturated fats have been unjustly vilified for years. You can read more about it and see my sources here: https://healyeatsreal.com/5-cooking-oils-think-healthybut-arent/

  6. Thanks for this informative article! I currently have macadamia nut oil, olive oil, and coconut oil in my pantry. I love all three, but was thinking of trying another paleo-friendly one. Your note on avocado oil was helpful cause that was my next choice, but I already dont have the best digestive issues so i think I might pass for now. I love ghee, too, so I may purchase that again. I miss it!

    1. 3 stars
      Paleothic —First and foremost is that while Paleolithic-era humans may have been fit and trim, their average life expectancy was in the neighborhood of 35 years.
      More to the point, the contemporary approach to Paleolithic eating ignores what must have been the overriding reality of actual Paleolithic people: the scarcity, inconsistency, and lack of variety of their diet. It’s absurd to think you’re eating like Paleo-man if you’re having filet mignon one day, lobster the next, and duck the next, while also consuming eggs and a supermarket’s worth of vegetables, nuts, and berries. Paleolithic diets surely varied by region, but mostly they probably consisted of a few staple foods, with periods of abundance and not infrequent periods of scarcity.

      There is no question that we should eat more fresh and unprocessed foods. But if there’s a charge to be levied against carbohydrate-heavy foods like bread and pasta, it’s that they make it easy for us to eat way too much, not that they’re bad in and of themselves.

  7. Hi! Im curious to hear more of your thoughts on Palm Oil. I haven’t done tons of reserch on it but I have read that a lot of baby formulas contain it and it’s reccomended to find the ones that do not have it in it. The explination for that was something about how Palm Oil forms some sort of soapy substance in the gut and it quite hard on it.

  8. Hey, great info! I have a question, I notice coconut oil has very high saturated fat, isn’t that bad for heart disease I thought? Or rather a heart disease trigger?

    1. No, it’s not. Please read the beginning of this article, it goes into this subject. You can also read the article referenced at the bottom “5 cooking oils You think are healthy but aren’t” I explain this in detail with references in both articles.

  9. You mentioned in your other post about “bad” oils that omega 3:6 ratio was important but the oils here don’t have that info. I personally do not feel comfortable using coconut oil because I get chest pains everytime I consume more than a teaspoon. I can eat coconut, drink the water with no problems but I think the saturated fat is way too concentrated. I just have to listen to my body.

    I was wondering if anyone has any rec’s for cooking oils that can be used for soups (not for stir frying) and that aren’t so high in saturated fats? I know they are supposed to be good but I don’t think my heart can handle it right now. hopefully when I’m much healthier in the future.

  10. Hello, this is very useful article. how about Groundnut /Peanut oil which is common in India. Also please advice on Rice Bran/Safflower oil

    Thanks

  11. I realize this is an older post, but I just found it. Thank you for the information. As far as being correct regarding nutrition, your facts are all there. However, please do not encourage the use of palm oil, even from sustainable sources. I currently live in Malaysia, and breathing is a daily chore. All of the doors and windows must be sealed, and we have to use air filters in the house. When it doesn’t rain for several days, there is a haze from the palm field fires that prevents me from even thinking about taking my two year old outside. I realize that there are, in fact, sustainable sources; however, as long as there is profit to be made for poor countries, the deforestation will continue. Palm oil might be good for consumption, but the process of obtaining it is detrimental to the health of those living where it is made.

  12. I already know about the healthy oils/fats for COOKING with, but it’s the ones for eating cold that I have trouble with–specifically, in making mayonnaise! I most recently made it with half coconut oil and half olive oil, and my husband called it “mayo-butter” because it’s so firm when refrigerated. What LIQUID oils are healthy to use for salad dressings without solidifying in the fridge? Any?

    1. Olive oil is a great option for salads, etc. You can make mayo with olive oil in place of coconut oil. It’s the coconut oil that causes it to solidify in the fridge. Avocado oil is my favorite oil to use for mayo.

      1. Olive oil alone gives too strong a flavor to mayo and does solidify in the fridge, which is why I was wondering if there is ANY oil that’s liquid in the fridge that’s healthy.

  13. We use a lot of those oils at home. The only thing is is people should not be afraid to eat food without an “organic” label on it. People we need to remember that butter comes from milk which comes from cows. The way that people can have their organic label is if they don’t give an animal any medicine as well. Farmers let some of their animals DIE from a completely harmless and treatable disease because otherwise they will lose their organic label. I say absolutely feel free to eat organic vegetables because they don’t hurt anything or anyone. But please think twice about organic products that have come from an animal. And I’m not trying to start any kind of argument but I am an ag major and have grown up on a farm so it pains me for people to think this way.