Olive
oil more stable and healthful than seed oils for frying food
Frying is one of the world's most popular ways to prepare food
-- think fried chicken and french fries. Even candy bars and whole turkeys have
joined the list. But before dunking your favorite food in a vat of just any old
oil, consider using olive.
Scientists report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food
Chemistry that olive oil
withstands the heat of the fryer or pan better than several seed oils to yield
more healthful food.
Mohamed Bouaziz and colleagues note that different oils have a
range of physical, chemical and nutritional properties that can degrade oil
quality when heated. Some of these changes can lead to the formation of new
compounds that are potentially toxic.
The researchers deep- and pan-fried raw potato pieces in four
different refined oils -- olive, corn, soybean and sunflower -- and reused the
oil 10 times.
They found that olive oil was the most stable oil for deep-frying
at 320 and 374 degrees Fahrenheit, while sunflower oil degraded the fastest
when pan-fried at 356 degrees. They conclude that for frying foods, olive oil
maintains quality and nutrition better than seed oils.
EDITOR'S NOTE: It's good to know you can use olive oil to fry foods - I always thought it was not a good oil for that purpose. However, if you decide to try frying with olive oil, I suggest you don't do it with the good, extra-virgin stuff. Get regular cooking quality olive oil, readily available in most markets.
The authors acknowledge funding from the Ministère de
l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique and the Ministère de
l'Agriculture, Tunisia.
Story
Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by American Chemical Society.Note:
Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
Akram Zribi, Hazem Jabeur, Felix Aladedunye, Ahmed Rebai,
Bertrand Matthäus, Mohamed Bouaziz. Monitoring
of Quality and Stability Characteristics and Fatty Acid Compositions of Refined
Olive and Seed Oils during Repeated Pan- and Deep-Frying Using GC, FT-NIRS, and
Chemometrics. Journal
of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2014; 62 (42): 10357 DOI: 10.1021/jf503146f
Cite
This Page:
American Chemical Society. "Olive oil more stable and
healthful than seed oils for frying food." Science Daily,
22 October 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141022103552.htm>.