Wednesday 21 August 2024

Cheapo Looks For New Oil

I'm just going to start writing as if I never left. It'll take too much explaining and emotional upheaval. So yeah, fullstop and next. 

The price of olive oil has skyrocketed. We have been cooking with olive oil every since the doctors told my mum that it was the healthier oil given her history with cardiac trouble. I too have been blessed with a high LDL to HDL ratio, and subsequently am taking a low dose of statins each morning. (LDL stands for low density lippoproteins aka the bad cholesterol, and HDL are the high-density versions with 'good' used to describe them. A rather biblical dichotomy you might say.)

Physical health notwithstanding, the penny pincher in me is wondering what's the best alternative to this "liquid gold" as it pokes harder at my financial circumstances. So factors I've considered, or been led to consider based on whatever Google has presented as results, are 
  • saturated fats vs polyunsaturated fats ratio
  • linoliec acid content
  • omega 6 to omega 3 fats ratio
  • and of course the price of acquiring of oil. For simple comparison I used, Redmart by Lazada. 
Saturated fats vs polyunsaturated fats ratio - we've been told by many health professionals that saturated fats are generally bad for us. They told us to eat less butter and lard. Of late, the docs not quite so sure anymore but prefer to err on the side of data. Saturated fats aren't out of the naughty woods but seemingly help raise both LDL and HDL versus previous thinking about LDL effects alone. 

Linoleic acid - This very specific chemical came up when i Googled about what's bad about groundnut oil. Linoleic acid or LA is most common polyunsaturated fat in plant oils. There's a study that correlates the consumption of oils with high linoleic oil with increases in both LDL and HDL count but also a reduction in plaque in arteries. Given that high LDL counts are what doctors say lead to heart trouble, my concerns then focused on the oils I have at home currently and what alternatives the supermarkets stocked. Edit - There's also oxidised LA which may actually work to generate heart problems, and that complicates matters doesn't it? The higher the LA count, the greater the chance of the damn thing being oxidised. 

Omega 6 to omega 3 fats ratio - Omega 3 oils come from mostly oily fish and certain seeds and nuts. They apparently keep the brain and heart moving, lower triglyceride numbers and reduce inflammation. Omega 6 oils are found in many nuts and seeds. Turns out we're eating way more Omega 6 oils than Omega 3 oils, key reason being that it is inadvertently in a lot of processed foods, like breads, cereals and fried foods. Also there's more O6 per gram than O3 in their natural sources so we could be eating too much anyway. A number of studies have suggested that that could be a bad thing. With less O3 in us, there's possibly more inflammation in the body, we're more prone to allergies and other autoimmune conditions. 

(What a voluminous kettle of scientific fish this is)

Oil prices - Red Mart's house brand Olive Oil was $16.76 for 2 litres in 2022. Today it is $26.94. That's a 60% price increase. This slippery crisis has been blamed on climate change affecting crop output. Apparently, folks in Spain are shoplifting bottles of olive oil as a result. 

I made a table in the end and shrunk that for this post.

Oils% Linoleic AcidSat/Polyunsat ratioO6/O3 ratio$ est 1L
Beef TallowNA12.80--
Butter2%14.40-$24.00
Canola Oil21%0.222.00$4.00
Chicken FatNA1.46--
Cocoa Butter3%20.25--
Coconut Oil2%59.00No 03$10.00
Corn Oil59%0.2183.00$4.00
Cottonseed Oil54%0.5054.00-
Flaxseed OilNA0.130.25$60.00
Lard (pork fat)10%3.5711.00-
Margarine (stick)NA0.67--
Margarine (tub)NA0.53--
Olive Oil10%1.509.00$9.50
Palm Kernel OilNA55.50No O3-
Palm Oil10%5.5846.00$2.00
Peanut Oil32%0.5332.00$6.00
Safflower Oil78%0.40133.00$17.00
Sesame Oil45%0.34138.00$15.00
Soybean Oil51%0.268.00$3.00
Sunflower Oil68%0.1640.00$6.00
Vegetable ShorteningNA0.97--

With the premise that 
  1. too high a linoleic count is bad,
  2. a high a saturated fat to polyunsatured fat is bad,
  3. too high a Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio isn't great, and 
  4. I'm a cheap bastard
the data shows either Canola or Peanut (Groundnut) oil fit this bill of mine. And that Coconut Oil will kill us if ingested. 

BUT everything with a proverbial pinch of salt please. I'm no doctor, just a guy with internet access.

Should I have put this through an AI instead?

Edit 2 - Holy wait a minute Batman! Rice Bran Oil seems to be magic bullet we've all be waiting for. I looked into it after a number of friends on Facebook asked me to verify this choice of oil. And what a discovery indeed. 

Oils% Linoleic AcidSat/Polyunsat ratioO6/O3 ratio$ est 1L
Rice Bran Oil34%0.8915.63$4.50

Here's what's awesome about Rice Bran Oil.
  • It's got less saturated fat than most plant oils, and Saturated to Polyunsaturated ratio is less than 1.
  • The O6 to O3 ratio is relatively low.
  • It's got a lot a monounsaturated fat in the form of oleic acid, an Omega 9 fatty acid - about 38% worth. This good thing helps to reduce LDL, increase HDL and also reduce blood pressure! Olive oil is about 70% oleic acid. 
  • Vitamin E (essential for the brain to absorb Omega 3), Vitamin K (help the blood clot better and important for bones) and beta-carotene (benefits the eyes, is an anti-oxidant too) are present. There is also this superhero-sounding chemical, gamma oryzanol, that helps to protect the liver! 
  • High smoking point of 232 deg C which is great for Asian cooking.  
  • It's not expensive!
So yeah, Rice Bran Oil is it! Winner winner fried-in-Rice-Bran-Oil chicken dinner!

Sources:




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