Shocking discovery: Cooking oil is more toxic than lard

The results of a new study have all but disproved the long-held belief that vegetable oil is better for cooking than lard.

When heated, vegetable oils have been found to release more toxic chemicals, which can cause cancer, heart disease and even dementia, than lard.

Researchers have found that frying food in lard is healthier for humans, as vegetable oils release more toxic chemicals, which can cause cancer, heart disease and even dementia, when heated.

According to the researchers, during cooking, vegetable oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as sunflower and corn oils, release large amounts of aldehydes, which have been linked to various diseases. And while olive oil seems to be a much better choice for avoiding this problem, butter, lard, and coconut oil are far superior.

The conclusions drawn from more than 20 years of research go against the long-standing official recommendation that we avoid saturated fats and replace them with polyunsaturated fats.

Professor Martin Grootveld from De Montfort University (UK) discovered that cooking fish with corn oil or sunflower oil contains toxic aldehydes more than 200 times higher than the daily safety limit according to international standards. Professor Grootveld, who has devoted much of his research to studying the chemical reactions caused by heating vegetable oils, is now calling on the food industry and governments to pay attention to the health risks of these cooking oil products.

Mr Grootveld stressed that although all cooking oils undergo the same chemical reaction when heated, those rich in polyunsaturated fats produce large amounts of aldehydes, while those rich in monounsaturated fats produce fewer of these toxic chemicals and those rich in saturated fats produce the least. Meanwhile, the toxic byproducts have been found to be linked to heart disease, cancer, birth defects, inflammation, stomach ulcers and high blood pressure.

"There is no known group of diseases that are not linked to toxic aldehydes," explains Grootveld. "First of all, avoid fried foods as much as possible. If you can't resist the temptation, choose a fat or oil that produces less of these toxic chemicals.

Health authorities still recommend using vegetable oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, but this is clearly wrong advice. People should be more concerned about them, especially those we buy in markets and supermarkets, and when we eat out in restaurants or buy food from stores that use them to prepare ready meals.

Some cooking oils will have adverse health effects, but they are not immediately apparent and add up over time. My general advice is to avoid anything high in polyunsaturated fats and substitute those high in monounsaturated fats or saturated fats (like lard).

For me, coconut oil is the number one choice. It is high in unsaturated fats, but 90% of those fats are good for our health."

According to vietnamnet