The healthiest cooking oils
It may seem like your supermarket shelves are filled with more cooking oil options than you’ve ever seen before. Vegetable, canola, and extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) are like culinary dinosaurs next to the seemingly modern avocado or flaxseed oil. With so many choices, and so many trends in the health food community, it’s hard to know which is the healthiest cooking oil to put in your cart.”There are ‘health halos’ associated with some cooking oils and opposite perceptions about others, not all of which are warranted,” says Kris Sollid, RD, senior director of nutrition communications of the International Food Information Council (IFIC). A health halo is the impression that a specific food is really good for you despite a lack of factual information to back up the idea.”Where these beliefs stem from is anyone’s guess, but I wouldn’t rule out connotations of an oil’s food source, which may, in part, be influenced by the more exotic regions of the world that some of these foods are native to,” Sollid adds.With this in mind, which healthiest cooking oil should you reach for when prepping a meal? Our food experts weigh in with multiple options for every palette.(Related: What Nutritionists Need You to Know About Smoke Point and Cooking Oils)
