Cooking Oils: what to use and when | Dr Sarah Berry 

Feels like they skirted around the whole seed oil debate. Nothing about cold pressed/extra virgin vs. refined?

Unless you're using a lot of olive oil every week, buy it in smaller bottles, because it starts to oxidise as soon as it's opened.

I absolutely disagree about coconut oil. Back in 2010, I presented with a fatty liver, prediabtes dangerously tipping over into diabetes, and high triglycerides. My Indian-American diabetes specialist primary doctor suggested I cook a few times a week with virgin coconut oil. Within two months, my triglycerides and LDL had decreased and my HDL went from 48 to 65. I do cook the rest of the time with light olive oil and sometimes when I make Indian/Bengali food I use mustard oil and ghee (clarified butter). Delicious stuff. But I would NEVER USE CANOLA OIL or vegetable oil. The reason people have issues with bad cholesterol is bc they are eating hydrogenated oil via their processed food consumption. Also, you are INCORRECT that coconut oil has a low smoke point! Wow. Unbelievable.

Lots of people in the comment section talk about avoiding seed oils and trying to reduce their consumption of Omega-6. It would be interesting if these people also talked about the health benefits that they were able to measure (e.g. blood tests, reduced body fat percentage, etc.) but interestingly no one mentioned anything like that. Anyone willing to volunteer? I use extra virgin coconut oil for cooking a (Sometimes beef fat) and extra virgin olive oil for dressings, etc, and sometimes I consume other oils when someone else cooks or I eat out. If I can cook with no oil at all, great, and when I stirfry I use a small amount of oil to get it going and the let the food cook in the moisture that comes out of the ingredients. My LDL has dropped to 90, HDL is about 45, triglycerides about 50. Body fat dropped from 33% to 12%. Blood pressure and blood glucose and insulin sensitivity are now also improved and in the ideal range. I also exercise (walk 30 min/day) minimize processed food and grains, take omega-3 supplements and do 16:8 intermittent fasting. So I can’t say the results are purely due to the oils I use, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting. You said coconut oil has a low smoke point, but that’s just plain wrong. Its higher smoke point is why I use it instead of extra virgin olive oil in stir frying. Of course thing like peanut oil are even higher but are less desirable for other reasons.

Since giving up seed oils 18 months ago, I have managed to lessen my pollen allergys. I now only use lard & beef tallow for cooking, feel 10 years younger. Now have enough energy to train & ride 200kms rides again. Cooking with beef tallow gives me so much energy especially Full English Breakfast. Seed oils make me feel tired & no energy plus terrible stomach upset. Also have cut out Cake & biscuits made with seed oil. I bake cakes with good old butter & feel great on it.

I’ve spent years trying to understand what oil was “healthy” and what was dangerous, thank you for such a reassuring podcast, the message is “don’t panic, just don’t reuse”.

There is no mention about the chemicals when processong them.

Rapeseed or canola oil is certainly GMO in the US. And what that means to me, is that significant amounts of glyphosate or Roundup is used on it. Are you concerned about that?

From an ironic perspective, I am glad that palm fat is an ingredient in so many food products, as it prevents from buying most of the processed foods out there.

Avocado oil has no oder when cooking whereas canola oil is quite pungent. I prefer it to light olive oil. That said I don’t often cook with oil at higher temps but use avocado oil in that context. Buying organic avocado oil in bulk is cost effective.

I'm a bit surprised that you didn't mention the omega 6:3 ratio of cooking oils. Omega 6 is a major contributor to inflammation in people's diet, and sunflower oil has one of the worst omega 6:3 ratios.

I find it peculiar that one would declare that there isn't enough evidence to damn polyunsaturated fats for cooking, while also expressing concerns about saturated fats that have no better support (or worse support), in light of the fact that we evolved eating lots of saturated fat (about 40% of the fat in animals that we ate while becoming modern humans), and only tiny traces of polyunsaturated fats.

On palm oil: West Africa, Northeast of Brazil, Southeast Asia cook regularly with this oil.

Curious you don't talk about frying your egg in butter as an option, or frying with Ghee, or even beef dripping, or roasting potatoes in Goose fat etc. especially when you talk about healthy fats in our diet being a good thing. Is this something to do with veganism?

I once spoke to my Naturopath about this. Told her I was sick of trying to work out the best oil. So I just use a bit of all of them. Thanks Johnathon and Sarah. I think the most important thing to take from this is that as long as you're not cooking with them repeatedly you're not going to do significant harm

Around 10 yrs ago I read an article about problems fast food restaurants have in cleaning metal surfaces. Turned out something in the oils (vegetable) was bonding on kitchen surfaces making it difficult to remove. At that time I cooked with different seed oils & always had a miserable time cleaning my stove exhaust hood. I do saute a lot which uses a high heat, but for a very short time. I switched to different oils including olive oil, avocado oil and coconut oil (mainly the last 2). I no longer have any problem cleaning the range hood - it just wipes clean even when ignored for a few weeks. It makes me wonder what effect the seed oils had on my body since I couldn't easily remove it from kitchen surfaces.

The Sydney Heart study of 450 people showed a 62% higher chance of dying over 7 years if consuming omega 6 margarine compared to the saturated fat eating control group. The Minnesota coronary experiment 9400 people showed 86% chance of heart attacks if eating vegetable oil over animal fat The Los Angeles veterans study showed 82% increase in risk of cancer in diets with 40%PUFA compared to 10%PUFA

What about expeller pressed versus chemically extracted?? I’m pretty sure chemically extracted oil has negative health consequences. But she seemed fine with the cheap stuff.

I would expect a company like McD that does a lot of French fries, offered hot air cooked alternatives....I once asked them about it and was informed they don't listen to people who are not their employees ie. they know how best to make a profit and your health is of no concern to them.

I've never liked the spray oils. However the big weight loss companies such as weight watchers and slimming world advocate using the as they reduce the overall calories. Can you please please do something on losing weight after 50 in women

I’m curious about the propellants in oil sprays; Obviously the amount that ends up in the food is minimal, but can it be harmful cumulatively?

This is the first time I'm actually looking at your face. I usually listen to the podcast in Spotify, so I've constructed this image of you in my head. You look different than how I pictured you, for the best, I mean.

Suggest an episode on cooking with animal fats: beef dripping, lard, duck /goose oil, butter, etc.

How does this compare with frying in butter, lard or dripping fat?

Best oil for almost everything: organic extra virgin olive oil. I use butter too, as well as sunflower oil for deep-fry and sesame oil for Asian curries and the like. .

I like to use butter, lard, tallow, coconut and EVO. Never heat olive oil at high temperature.

The recommended oil for fast but very hot stir frying in a wok in Chinese cooking is peanut oil. How does that compare with rape seed oil?

Coconut oil gave me high cholesterol results. I have stopped using it so often now and all is well

What about tallow, beef fat for frying?????? Please someone let me know. Thank you.

I love the Zoe team, but I thought this podcast was a bit "Blue Peter"! I was REALLY interested to hear your thoughts about seed oils, and am hoping you can do a deeper dive into this...? please? Specifically, there is a lot of discussion that linoleic acid in Omega 6 causes inflammation which can lead to many other problems. Was Dr. Sarah Berry saying that studies in relation to this had only been tested on animals and therefore the effects on people is unknown? Also, I thought (but I may be mistaken) that a previous podcast had discussed that polyunsaturated fat was out and saturated fat was back in and that cooking with butter was a better option. Please help!

I would love to hear about ghee and cholesterol...Ghee is very important in Ayurvedan medicine. Thank you so much fot your podcasts!!!

About a year ago I was diagnosed with a fatty liver and high cholesterol so I looked at my diet and noticed that I was eating a lot of olive oil and nuts so I reduce these substantially and when my blood test was repeated my fatty liver had resolved and my cholesterol had returned to normal levels. The way that I look at it is that all of these oils including olive oil are actually processed foods and and our bodies did not evolve to consume so much oil as we dol. If we were just eating olives from a tree the oil would be combined with all of the other elements of the Olive and they will taste slightly bitter which word naturally slow down our consumption. . Olive oil is heavily marketed but iit is high in saturated fats and particularly bad for the skin if you use it it in olive oil ear drops for ear wax. It is now recommend not to use olive oil ear drops because the olive oil actually burns and damages the skin in the ear there is also evidence that olive oil damages the blood vessels. I have certainly felt a lot better since I have reduced my consumption of olive oil and nuts so I do appreciate that everybody is different and what works for one may not work for somebody else and no I'm not denying that there may be beneficiall aspects to consuming oils such as olive oil there may also be negative effects as with everything and it may be a kind of trade off. Finally it is of course difficult to know how authentic the olive oil is that one is purchasing and there have been major legal cases in Italy involving the mafia diluting olive oil with other oils.

I'd be interested in hearing more about your thoughts on avocado oil. Do you think it's nonsense mainly because of the wide-spread poor quality and labeling fraud in the industry, or is even genuine avocado oil not worth using?

What about a 50/50 combo of Canola oil and light olive oil.

No mention of Rice Bran oil? How do you rate that oil for frying and cooking?

Coconut oil is always up in the air, but one thing is certain; it makes for delicious eggs. Also, i wish they'd cover peanut oil.

Outstanding work as usual - thanks. I wonder if a daily handful of mixed seeds in whole raw form is going to do do harm? Is it worse than the equivalent dose of refined seed oil? One handful of seeds is around 2ml of oil.... sounds risky now that I do the sums.... or is refined seed oil worse than raw whole seed oil because of heating/storage oxidation damage?

I have used Greek extra Virgin olive oil for salad dressing and a little for frying. It's very light.

I use a locally produced extra virgin organic cold pressed rapeseed oil. I use it sparingly. I would like a similarly produced quality olive oil but it is extremely expensive and can you trust it has not been mixed with other oils?

Never mentioned using oil for baking.. wonder what she think about that?

I'm curious if grapeseed oil is good to cook with...

Coconut oil with baking powder makes a good tooth paste.

I live in the tropics, i hink the sprays are unhealthy however I use Ghee for heating, grapeseed and olive oil on salads. It's a case of damned if you do/dont. So all thgs in moderation. Thnks for this podcast

What about the omega 6:3 ratio in our overall diet that could be influenced quite a bit by what one cooks with. Also surely light olive oil won't contain the polyphenols that make it safe to cook with at higher temps?

I increased my LARD and BUTTER consumption this year. I threw out all the factory made seed oils (so called stable oils). I lost 45lbs.

I would like to hear more about fat. I grew up being told fat is a bad thing but now it seems that may be incorrect. I know about trans fats being bad but latest I heard about is animal fats may be less harmful than cooking oils?

Zoe coming to rescue Canola oil industry 😅

Cooking with Olive oil is a problem because it is not taste neutral. Interesting news on Avacado oil.

I know Rice Bran oil has a high smoking point, therefore we use it to cook at higher temperatures. Is it a healthy oil, I think it is??

Really interesting, thank you x

I use part olive oil part butter for the butter flavour. Ok?

I've stopped using canola oil because it's extracted using hexane, whereas other oils are not, presumably.

Is it only extra virgin olive oil that has the health boosting properties? She mentioned "light" olive oil for cooking, not sure if that’s the non-extra-virgin one and if so, does it have benefits (for cooking) over rapeseed etc?

Could someone help me out here? I've and listened myself sick about oils and everyone seems to contradict each other. I get that one should be careful to whom to listen to etc etc. The podcasts and channels I have listened all seem popular and legit etc. Who the hell is right? Who the hell is wrong? I was considering joining the zoe group but after listening to this clip I'm thinking twice as the info directly contradicts what Tim Specter and Liz Berger have said recently about oils. Help?

All fats contain both saturated and unsaturated fat, in varying proportions, so demonising one type while lauding the other is very difficult to implement. Current nutritional guidelines (uk) discourage the consumption of red meat, while encouraging the consumption of oily fish. Both contain saturated fat: the oily fish more so. We are also encouraged to drink skimmed milk, which unlike the meat and fish contains more saturated than unsaturated fat. Human beings have always eaten saturated fat. Human beings have not always eaten processed seed oils, originally developed as industrial lubricants not food. The consumption of high saturated fat foods has plummeted, and consumption of mostly unsaturated seed oils has increased over the last century or so. At the same time chronic diseases have gone up dramatically. I’m not saying this proves causation. But lack of association (between consumption of saturated fat and incidence of all causes of mortality for example) disproves causation. The main message of ‘vegetable oils good, animal fats bad’ which is baldly asserted (in Blue Peter tones) here is not supported by any of the evidence discussed. Trying to split hairs between home frying and commercial frying is just smoke and mirrors.

Jonathan says he cooks only with extra virgin olive oil but Sarah says use a light olive oil, who is right? I've heard from chefs that Extra virgin oil goes rancid very easily when heated so healthier maybe but worse tasting food?

Common missconception is Saturated fats(coconut oil, butter) cause cholesterol but more recent studies are not limiting the saturated fats intake. In my opinion Coconut oil, butter, Ghee are better suited for cooking because of their least refinement nature. Refining oils is the one to blame in rapeseed oil, peanut oil.

The focus on smoke points as the pivotal factor in oil oxidation is misleading, especially since most cooking doesn't approach these temperatures. It's important to be informed but not overly concerned, contrary to the excessive emphasis seen in the video. Additionally, the vague discussion of "myths" without specifying what they are creates unnecessary confusion and appears to be a tactic to sidestep potential disagreement. What the video indirectly addresses, yet fails to clearly articulate, is that polyunsaturated fats, like corn and sunflower oil, are significantly more prone to oxidation than saturated fats, even at temperatures far below their smoke points, during both storage and cooking. This makes them considerably less healthy options. While canola oil (a genetically modified form of rapeseed) contains a higher proportion of the less oxidatively-sensitive monounsaturated fats, its extensive processing and GMO status are concerning, especially considering the original, non-GMO rapeseed's toxicity. Therefore, extra virgin (cold-pressed) olive oil is a superior choice. Cooking with saturated fats, such as butter, introduces fewer oxidants, debunking the widespread myth linking saturated fats to heart disease.

Don’t use any. They’re all highly processed and inflammatory. The only exception might be Olive oil. Cook with 100% grass-fed butter, tallow, and ghee.

No mention on ghee? High in butyric acid.

What about oils used for drizzling on cooked food and salads? Perhaps hemp oil is best for that or is olive oil better?

Please can you site any reliable research that says hard animal fats are inlammatory???

What about the way these oils are extracted from the seeds in the first place? Seed oils are highly processed foods.

Thanks

Dear Peeps in a recent video on alcohol you stated that later in the broadcast Tim would explain the effect on the microbiome. He didn't. Also can you do something on cheese? I recently swapped to a vegetarian product and later discovered it had more saturated fat than my previous dairy choice.

This subject is very very controversial. Many scientists advise against vegetable seed oils like canola, etc.

Walnut oil??? By La Tourangelle please? I use 1-2 tbsp daily unheated Thank You

All Stores Please Lower the price of all Military and Local for all Brands of Vegetable Oil Products and Accessories and Production Cost Now That's too much $$ The Whole World Now 🙏🙏🙏

Canola oil

She is sticking with the old trope of 'saturated fats' are the devil. I find it problematic when there are statements like 'coconut oil is shown to have benefits by some studies but I would question those studies' and then no elaboration is given on why she would question the studies...

I know I mat be a bit of a dinosaur but I still deep fry my chips in lard. I only have chips maybe once or twice a month, should I be changing to a seed oil? I have read so much on how bad they are for us.

I take no notice to the general advice from this talk as no mention omega 3to6 ratios in different oils as well as incorrectly pointed out that coconut oil had a low smoke point temperature

Why wasn't Ghee mentioned?

I avoid palm oil rigorously due to the environmental issues.

Why do they never present THE DATA? Opinions are OK but actual data is better.

Very informative video 👍 but I'm curious about safflower oil ? I can't find much information about that anywhere.

what about omega 6 and inflamation

Can someone explain what is a 'light' olive oil?

A very disappointing assessment of canola oil given the number of times the seeds are heated to produce its oil for consumption and all the high temperatures it is exposed to! Initial cleaning - heated to around 85°C/180°F, solvent extraction - 65°C/150°F, desolvetizing - 105°C/220°F, degumming - 75°C/165°F, neutralization 78°C/175°F, bleaching 110°C/220°F, deodorization 220°C/430°F! In what health space is this an acceptable product? It was already rancid before leaving the factory, masked by the final process of removing the smell. This is an industrial product, not fit for human consumption!

Waaay behind the times. How can you explain how the health of the population has deteriorated since the introduction of processed oils. Why use a processed oil rather than the healthy animal fats that our species has been eating for millions of years……..

These seed oils aee super processesed and full of hexane

Avocado oil is not different from grapeseed oil??? It only takes a quick google search to realize avocado oil is 70% monounsaturated fats, and grapeseed oil 70% polyunsaturated. That makes the latter MUCH MORE unstable and pro-inflammatory, specially because it's mostly refined!!

Why does she need to be evasive and coy when asked what oils she cooks with in her home? She’s a professional giving viewers her “expert” advice about this topic, yet she doesn’t know what cooking oils her husband uses. Give the viewers some credit for intelligence, nobody is putting her on trial here, we simply would have liked to know her honest answer. I keep watching because I’m interested in making good food choices but so far have been disappointed.

What about air fryers?

What about cooking with lard?

Peanut oil?

What about sesame oil?

😂😂😂 Healthy PUFAs..... I gave these guys one more chance, but this is straight disinformation... Too bad, because Tim is great.

She appears to contradict Dr. Robert Lustig ( author of METABOLICAL and FAT CHANCE). "I am not necessarily saying cooking with seed oils is healthy but it's not unhealthy either" -- go figure. We are back to square one.

Wish the video discuss avocado oil. Which is what I have been using. Avocado smoke point is high.

Ghee?? Butter?

Sidestepped the question what do you use at home …..yikes Since seed oils were developed for industrial uses I don’t trust her views I don’t use any seed oils for cooking I will stick to grass fed butter and animal fats and a limited amount of coconut fat if by some chance I am wrong well I would rather eat like my great grandmother did she was a hunter and farmer who back at the turn of the twentieth century didn’t have access to the stuff big businesses create today . I refuse to support them. Did I miss a discussion about the poisons used in the production of the massive fields of rape seed? I too wonder who pays her

Why no science to back up your views on oils? I will still choose to avoid all refined mass produced oil

Eat the olives and nuts forget the oil. Who pays her salary?

The fat expert can’t answer what type of oil is used in her home, then straddles the fence on seed oils after unequivocally stating earlier that they are healthy. C’mon folks - you can’t have it both ways. Any updates?

I think Zoe is 20 years behind the trend 😅.

No mention of us who have an allergy to rapeseed oil

Strange take on seed oils. The omega 3:6 ratio is completely out of whack with modern diets and seed oils also go through a disgusting chemical process, how can any of that not be harmful to human health?

I believe you are way off the mark on this one, sorry.

It is amusing to read comments from armchair 'experts' who have just watched a video made by two highly educated and intelligent actual experts. I have to wonder about their reason for watching. Was it just so that they could promote their own opinions/beliefs? BTW I can be as skeptical as anyone and don't just believe everything I see or read. Science education and my working life have drummed that into me over the last 40 years.