Cold-Pressed Oils Used in Indian Lifestyle

Any oil loses its nutritional value when heated.  Any cold-pressed oil, if used incorrectly can actually be more harmful than refined oils

Ever since I published a brief note on olive oil on Facebook, I have had several questions and requests to write on other vegetable oils.  So, here is my attempt to educate myself and pass on my knowledge …

I see several organic food product suppliers promoting and pushing unrefined ‘Cold-pressed’ oils over the usual refined oils in the name of health; however there appears to be a significant lack of awareness and misconceptions among both consumers and suppliers about their nutritional benefits and usage.

Let’s understand what an oil is –

Oils are primarily grain-based or nut-based extractions, which contain saturated and unsaturated fats, oleic acid and some vitamins and nutrients.  While oils are usually liquids, they tend to solidify at cooler temperatures.  When an oil is heated at some point the begins to break down to glycerol and free fatty acids.  This also marks the beginning of both flavor and nutritional degradation and is called the ‘smoke point’

An oil is refined when it is chemically treated to remove impurities or neutralize taste or reduce acid content, and improve its smoke point.  The heating process and chemical additives used during refining makes a refined oil less nutritious and a health risk.

Why do we need oil?  Aren’t oils bad for health and make us gain weight?

Believe it or not, our body requires small amounts of fat in our daily diet – both saturated and unsaturated.  In fact, Saturated fat is required by the body and brain to function properly.  Unsaturated fats may actually help to lower “bad” LDL cholesterol and also raise “good” HDL cholesterol.

Oils provide these fats required by our body and also could provide nutrition to our skin with scalp due to their natural vitamin content, anti-oxidants, fatty acids  (Omega 369) and minerals.  Cold-pressed oils are ideally suited to be consumed or used at normal room temperatures.

When we use oils in our food, we heat them at various temperatures.  Any oil with more saturated fat will withstand heat better (e.g. coconut oil).  The temperature point at which an oil begins to break is the smoke point for that oil.  Ideally, we should not consume any oil after it has been heated to its smoke point, simply because the oil could release harmful chemicals while breaking down.

Do we know how to use Cold-Pressed, Unrefined oils?

All the cold-pressed oils can be used for applications that do not require heating, be it for body massaging, a salad dressing or for making pickles.  We need to be careful when choosing an oil for cooking.  The table below illustrates the uses of commonly used oils in Indian lifestyle – be it cooking or for external applications:

In essence, if you are deep-frying, it may actually be better to use a refined oil than to overheat and use some cold-pressed oil; the better option may be to simply avoid deep-frying as much as we can!

So, did you find this a bit helpful?

Any comments / alternate views?  I will sincerely appreciate your thoughts.

Narayan K Murthy | narayan@goodseeds.in | +91 970.449.6664 | http://www.goodseeds.in

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