A mind boggling 479 million results emerging in a trite on googling “healthy cooking medium” bowled me into confusion. The search threw up oils and fats I had not heard of, many clamouring for the “best” spot. Seconds later I realized that most of this “information” was “promotion” stuff by manufacturers, marketeers and oil lobbies, as is often the case in the world-wide-web.
My grandpa’s wise saying “When too many opinions fly around, no one knows the truth” seemed to fit well here. I therefore chatted up with Dr Sudeep, our young cardiologist, to find out what medical science was preaching these days.
“Desi ghee”, derived from the nutritious milk of holy cows, whose virtues my grandpa had extolled in my pre-teen days, he told me, had become “toxic” to the heart despite my grandpa living actively on till 85 while liberally consuming it, and without a coronary angioplasty or even a daily dose of asprin.
Saturated fats,it seems , are the worst of them all. They are solid or thick at room temperatures, and include ghee, vanaspati and butter. They get deposited in the arteries of the heart more easily than others.
Lighter oils from vegetable sources are in fashion: groundnut, sunflower, mustard, gingely, safflower, coconut, palmolein, soyabean, ricebran, olive, canola and many more. What seems to determine their ratings are their proportion of un-saturated fats (more the better), and the balance of MUFAs ( Mono-unsaturated ) to PUFAs (poly-unsaturated fatty acids), and Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids?
The reason for this enormous confusion is that no one seems to know what the ideal mix of MUFAs to PUFAs, or Omega 3s to 6s is, allowing each oil-maker to stake a “healthy” claim for his product.
Coconut oil is a too high in saturated fats and is best had only on occasions with “avial”. Mustard oil is healthy with lots of unsaturated fats, but contains a bit of the undesirable erucic acid. Olive oil is good, at least for Italians whose hearts don’t ache despite gorging on cheese-stuffed pizzas. Samosas and kachoris fried in this oil however often taste like hospital-diet.
To my persistent “Which then?” the cardiologist finally confided, “There is no ideal oil; they all have pluses and minuses. Hence use different ones for different dishes or change the brand every month. And keep the family consumption to 2-3 Kg per month”.
We therefore now use mixed refined oil for routine cooking, changing the brand every other month, mustard oil to fry fish, olive oil in salad dressings........
To my “Can I take a spoon of ghee with daal?” Dr Sudeep however did not melt!
As published in HT City (Hindustan Times) dated 11 December, 2011.
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