File Photo
Edible oil is a type of lipid that is made from vegetable, animal, or synthetic compounds. This oil is used for cooking, frying, or baking. Edible oil is essential for the human body as a source of nutrition. Oil is one of the three sources required for energy production in the human body. A healthy person should consume 30 percent of his daily calories or 1.00 to 1.2 grams of oil or lipid per kilogram of body weight. Vegetable oil is the oil that comes from trees, flowers, or grains. It is also called polyunsaturated fat. The sources of vegetable oil or lipids commonly available in the Bangladesh market include soybean, mustard, canola, olive, rice bran, sunflower, corn oil, etc.
In addition to sugars and proteins, oil or fat (lipid) is an essential part of a person's daily diet. Cooking oil contains calories, fatty acids, vitamins and antioxidants necessary for the human body, which fulfill various nutritional deficiencies of the body. Not only does it produce energy, lipids participate in the protection of various organs of the body, participate in physical metabolism and most importantly, lipids are essential components of biomembranes. In addition to saturated fatty acids, vegetable oil also contains mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which makes it a special edible oil. Moreover, vitamins A', 'D', 'E', 'And K', which are necessary for the body, are fat soluble. That is why it is said that in order to get the necessary nutrients from vegetables or other foods, they must be cooked with oil.
Currently, there are various types of vegetable edible oils such as sunflower oil, mustard oil, soybean oil, rice bran oil, butter oil, etc. in the market, so it is particularly important to determine which oil to use for cooking will be beneficial for health. Since the type and amount of fat present in oil varies from source to source, it is essential to know the type and amount of fat before choosing an edible oil.
Oils generally contain saturated fat and unsaturated fat. Saturated fatty acids are not essential for the human body. Saturated fatty acids usually come from animal sources. On the other hand, unsaturated fatty acids are liquid at room temperature. They help increase the good cholesterol HDL. If one wants to reduce the risk of heart disease, then unsaturated fats can be consumed instead of saturated fats. They also help reduce the bad cholesterol LDL. Unsaturated fats consist of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) such as sunflower oil and soybean oil and monounsaturated fats (MUFAs) such as olive oil, and mustard oil. Polyunsaturated fats are further divided into omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids. Some omega-3 fatty acids cannot be produced by the body on its own, which requires them to be included separately in the diet.
It is worth noting here that HDL cholesterol helps reduce the amount of LDL cholesterol. HDL particles circulate through the blood and dissolve various dangerous particles and LDL stuck to the walls of the arteries in the blood. HDL takes all those harmful elements of cholesterol to the liver and recycles them. Therefore, edible oils rich in unsaturated fats should be used in the diet. In addition to having an idea about the fats present in the oil for cooking, it is important to know the effect of temperature on the oil. High-temperature cooking methods (frying, deep frying) cause internal breakdown of the oil and release various types of chemicals. On the other hand, for light frying, barbecue, or cooking, it is better to use oils rich in low polyunsaturated fats or saturated fats, such as olive oil, rice bran oil, and canola oil. These are stable at high temperatures.
Another important factor in this case is the smoke point of the oil. That is the temperature at which the oil burns and the fats break down, which is harmful to health. Therefore, how long it is cooked is quite important. For example: Nowadays, many people eat olive oil or olive oil out of health awareness. However, since the smoke point of olive oil is very low, this oil can give the opposite result when frying. Cooking with olive oil for more than 17 minutes is not right. However, most of the common foods in Bangladesh take much longer to cook. As a result, the oil loses its effectiveness. Therefore, if you want to eat olive oil, you should mix it directly with the food—for example, in salad dressing or cook the food quickly on low heat.
In this case, other virgin or refined oils are suitable for cooking for a longer period of time. Their smoke point is relatively high. Mustard oil, soybean oil, or other oils commonly available in the market do not break down easily during cooking. Recently, coconut oil was called a superfood for cooking. However, a study by Harvard University has called this oil a 'pure poison' because 90 percent of coconut oil is saturated fat.
Again, burnt oil is very harmful to the body. When oil is burned repeatedly, the chemical structure changes in new reactions and many toxic substances including uric acid are produced, which can cause heart damage. A study conducted by the Leicester School of Pharmacy at De Montfort University in Britain has found that cooking at high temperatures (180 degrees Celsius or more) changes the structure of the molecules in oil and fat. It reacts with oxygen in the air or undergoes oxidation. Aldehydes and lipid peroxides are produced from there. Even if aldehydes are inhaled or consumed in small amounts with food, they increase the risk of heart disease and cancer.
Before choosing an edible oil suitable for consumption in the context of Bangladesh, it is important to consider the current edible oil situation in Bangladesh and the current situation in the world market. Among the oil crops grown in our country, mustard, peanut, sesame, linseed, soybean, sunflower, etc. are imported. 80-85 percent of the annual demand for edible oil in the country is dependent on imports. This demand is met by imported soybean, palm, canola and sunflower oils. Palm and soybean oil account for 90 percent of the import dependency. According to the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, there is a demand for about 2 million tons of edible oil in the country, including soybean, palm, mustard and rice bran oils. Most of the demand, i.e., 1.3 million tons, is palm oil and 5 million tons of soybean oil. Another major problem is the tendency of some unscrupulous traders to mix palm oil with soybean oil and sell it, hoping for more profit, which has made the situation more complicated for consumers.
In this situation, mustard oil has special importance and utility in the current context. Since mustard oil is high in monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, HDL (good cholesterol) in the blood increases and HDL (bad cholesterol) decreases. In addition, mustard oil plays an important role in controlling blood triglycerides, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels. The metabolite glucosinolate present in mustard oil isothiocyanate is formed when analyzed, which prevents the formation of cancer cells.
There is a lot of disagreement about the consumption of mustard oil. In the 1970s, the US FDA banned mustard oil for human consumption after accepting the results of research on rats. Later, after detailed research under the supervision of the European Union, in 2016, it was considered acceptable to have up to 2 percent erucic acid. On the other hand, the Indian Lipid Association proved and declared in their research that mustard oil is the most beneficial oil for the human body. In addition, the beneficial aspects of erucic acid against neurodegenerative disorders have been published recently. Moreover, erucic acid plays a role as an antibacterial and antiviral, in solving the problem of insulin resistance by increasing glucose uptake in muscles, reducing oxidative stress, and as a carrier of some drugs.
It must be remembered that we should not be dependent on any particular oil in any way. Since there is still disagreement among scientists about the erucic content of mustard oil, it is important to develop mustard varieties with low erucic acid. In this regard, the development of canola varieties can play an important role. Considering the scarcity of domestic germplasm, mutation breeding can play an important role in the development of canola varieties. Moreover, it is possible to reduce the amount of erucic acid by using genome editing technology in the development of conventional mustard varieties. Therefore, considering all aspects, it can be said that considering the current context of Bangladesh, the global oil market, foreign exchange reserves, current oil production in the country, etc., we should decide to use mustard oil as cooking oil for the foreseeable future.
Author: Dr. Mirza Mofazzal Islam, Director General, Bangladesh Atomic Agricultural Research Institute, Mymensingh.
Source: Online/GFMM
Comment Now