A study by researchers at De Montfort University in Leicester found that cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic chemicals which are linked to cancer and other diseases.
The scientists recommend food to be fried in olive oil, coconut oil, butter and even lard instead.
Through a series of experiments, the study authors found that on heating up vegetable oils released high concentrations of chemical called aldehydes, which are linked to illnesses such as cancer, heart disease and dementia.
De Montfort University bioanalytical chemistry and chemical pathology professor Martin Grootveld stated that his research showed that a regular meal of fish and chips when fried in vegetable oil contained as much as 100-200 times more toxic aldehydes than the limit set by World Health Organisation (WHO), reported The Telegraph.
Contrarily, when the tests used butter, olive oil and lard in place of vegetable oil, they produced much lesser amounts of aldehydes. The tests found that coconut oil generated the lowest levels of toxic aldehydes.
Another study by Professor John Stein from Oxford University too supported this study. The emeritus professor of neuroscience was quoted by The Telegraph as saying: "If you eat too much corn oil or sunflower oil, the brain is absorbing too much omega 6, and that effectively forces out omega 3. I believe the lack of omega 3 is a powerful contributory factor to such problems as increasing mental health issues and other problems such as dyslexia."
NHS has advised public to replace food in high saturated fats with lower fat versions and has warned people of frying food in butter and lard. Instead, the heath agency recommends use of corn oil and sunflower oil, reported The Telegraph.
However, professor Grootveld said that: "For decades, the authorities have been warning us how bad butter and lard was. But we have found butter is very, very good for frying purposes and so is lard.
"People have been telling us how healthy polyunsaturates are in corn oil and sunflower oil. But when you start messing around with them, subjecting them to high amounts of energy in the frying pan or the oven, they undergo a complex series of chemical reactions which results in the accumulation of large amounts of toxic compounds."
Image: Researchers recommend use of olive oil in cooking. Photo: courtesy of m_bartosch/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
