Cooking oil is purified fat of plant origin, which is liquid at room temperature.

Some of the many different kinds of edible vegetable oils include: olive oil, palm oil, soybean oil, canola oil, pumpkin seed oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, peanut oil, grape seed oil, sesame oil, argan oil and rice bran oil. Many other kinds of vegetable oils are also used for cooking.

With these choices, which one is the best? Of course, all manufacturers would say that their product is the best but how do you know which is telling the truth?

Let’s look at the essentials of most cooking oil — Fats.

The Bad Fats

1. Saturated fats raise total blood cholesterol as well as LDL cholesterol.
2. Trans fats raise the bad LDL cholesterol and lower the good HDL cholesterol.

The Good Fats

1. Monounsaturated Fats Monounsaturated fats lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol and increase the HDL cholesterol.
2. Polyunsaturated Fats Polyunsaturated fats also lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. Omega 3 fatty acids belong to this group.

From differentiating the good and the bad, it is obvious that when choosing the better cooking oil, pick the one that has higher amounts of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats and with little or no saturated and trans fats. Look at our list of the good and the bad cooking oils.

Good Cooking Oils:

* canola oil
* flax seed oil
* peanut oil
* olive oil
* corn oil
* safflower oil
* sunflower oil

Bad Cooking Oils:

* Vegetable shortening
* Hard margarine
* Butter
* Palm oil
* Palm kernel oil
* Coconut oil