Scientists Recommend Coconut Oil for Frying

Cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic chemicals linked to cancer and diseases, according to leading scientists, who are now recommending food be fried in olive oil, coconut oil, butter or even lard.  The scientists found that heating up vegetable oils led to the release of high concentrations of chemicals called aldehydes, which have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and dementia.  The results contrast with official advice that oils rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are better for the health than the saturated fats.  

Martin Grootveld, a professor of bioanalytical chemistry and chemical pathology, De Montfort University in Leicester, said that his research showed “a typical meal of fish and chips”, fried in vegetable oil, contained as much as 100 to 200 times more toxic aldehydes than the safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation.  In contrast, heating up butter, olive oil and lard in tests produced much lower levels of aldehydes.  Coconut oil produced the lowest levels of the harmful chemicals.   

The findings are contained in research papers. Prof. Grootveld’s team measured levels of “aldehydic lipid oxidation products” (LOPs), produced when oils were heated to varying temperatures.  The tests suggested coconut oil produces the lowest levels of aldehydes, and three times more aldehydes were produced when heating corn oil and sunflower oil than butter.  The team concluded: “The most obvious solution to the generation of LOPs in culinary oils during frying is to avoid consuming foods fried in PUFA-rich oils as much as possibile”.