Look out for these 3 things when buying cooking oil

The truth is that, whether you only need a small amount or excess quantity, the quality of the oil is worth paying attention to, in order to avoid the health risks that come with consuming low quality oil.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s not just the process you adopt in cooking your food that matters, but the quality of the ingredients you use as well.

So, the next time you find yourself in the mall or the market shopping, be sure to take a look at the labels of the cooking oil for these 3 things before deciding which is the best for you.

1) The fat content

Most people treat fat as evil, but in reality, it isn’t. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the classes of food required for a balanced meal. So, it’s time to embrace fat, but on the condition that you’ll be able to distinguish good fat from bad fat.

Every cooking oil should contain these 3 types of fat; Saturated fat, Monounsaturated fat and Polyunsaturated fat.

Saturated fats are less healthy compared to the other types of fat found in cooking oil but they are highly stable, reduce oxidation and support digestion.

Monounsaturated fat, on the other hand, helps lower the risk of heart disease, cancer and the likes. So, your cooking oil should contain more monounsaturated fat than saturated fat.

Polyunsaturated fat like omega 3 and omega 6 cannot be produced by your body, so it’s important for your cooking oil to contain these. However, the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids should be 1:2.

2) Smoking point

Smoking point is the temperature at which the oil starts smoking in the pan. The problem with this is that when the oil starts smoking, the flavor and the healthy components get ruined. So, the lower the smoking point of the cooking oil, the better. Most oils have their smoking points ranging from 325°F to 500°F.