While advocates of healthy eating put a great emphasis on natural oils, some nutritionists oppose the popular view that modern vegetable oils are as healthy as we think. Everybody uses oils while cooking, and many people consume oils raw as a food supplement. The main appealing feature of coconut, olive, canola, flaxseed and many more oils is the high amount of monounsaturated fats. Consumers are promised that their body will build more healthy cells and create a stronger resistance towards damaging factors. On the other hand, vegetable oils are rich in polyunsaturated fats that oxidize easily. Products of oxidation, unlike monounsaturated fats, may cause inflammation and mutation in cells. Normally monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are in balance and assure proper functioning of cells but extra consumption of polyunsaturated fats poses our health at risk.
Another reason why most available vegetable oils are a bad choice for healthy eaters is a highly industrialized process of their extraction. Many of them did not exist before the twentieth century because extraction was impossible without pressing and heating in the industrial settings. Today various additives and chemicals are involved in this process. Artificial compounds keep food from spoiling, on the other hand, they are carcinogenic. Moreover, the raw material for oil production frequently comes from genetically modified crops but information like this is not mentioned on the label.
Nutritionists remind that there are several oils still safe to use. They are coconut, palm, olive and avocado oils as well as oils of the animal origin such as tallow, lard, and butter. Vegetable oils shall be obviously organic and cold-pressed. Walnut and flaxseed oils shall be used in moderation as they are rich in polyunsaturated fats.