The ins and outs of oils

What oils do you reach for when you cook your favorite meal? The emergence of trendy culinary oils and the claims about their various health benefits can sometimes feel overwhelming.

Cooking oils are typically marketed in two basic forms — refined and unrefined. Refined oils tend to be flavorless, odorless, and light in color due to processing. They are more shelf stable than unrefined oils and hold up better to high heat, which means that food may be cooked longer without releasing damaging free radicals from oil that has been heated to the point of smoking. This is known as the oil's smoke point. When oil smokes, its chemical structure begins to deteriorate and its nutritional value declines. Consumption of fried or smoked foods can cause damage and inflammation to the body’s cells. However, the higher the smoke point, the better the oil is for high heat cooking methods like frying or sautéing. High heat cooking oils include refined (or "light") olive oil, sesame, peanut, avocado, safflower, canola, soybean, corn, and grape seed oils. Coconut oil and butter are considered “medium heat” fats and perform best in baked goods since they smoke at temperatures greater than 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Unrefined oils are typically expeller pressed, which means that the oil was extracted via mechanical or cold-press methods rather than high heat application and chemical solvents. Unrefined oils have a fuller flavor, richer color, and greater amounts of beneficial plant compounds. However, they go rancid more quickly. You can find unrefined oils most often as macadamia, coconut, avocado, hazelnut, extra virgin olive, flaxseed, and walnut oils. Since unrefined oils don’t hold up well to high temperatures, they are best used as a dressing for salad or drizzled over previously cooked items. There are some oils available in unrefined forms that are suitable for medium-high heat cooking, such as sesame, peanut, grape seed and avocado oils.

Get creative in the kitchen and experiment with a variety of cooking oils. Opt for more natural plant-based oils high in mono and polyunsaturated fats most often, such as avocado, olive, or nut and seed oils.

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Natalie Colla CDE, RDN, LDN, is a graduate of the University of Idaho Dietetics Program and diabetes educator with Kootenai Clinic Diabetes & Endocrinology.