Would you rather? 🤔

Pick your poison, which cooking fats win head-to-head?

Seed Oil Scout
September 05, 2023

Everyone knows the rules, let’s go:

Is that apple organic?

1: Would you rather?

Egg fried in conventional butter OR egg fried in pure (refined) olive oil:

Conventional butter wins all day here. Grain-fed butters are still extremely high in saturated fat, and do contain a fair amount of vitamins and micronutrients.

Refined olive oil is basically a high-MUFA, low PUFA seed oil, stripped of most of the things that make it a food. Also much of it is rancid or fraudulent, and cheaper oils can be relatively high in PUFA, anyway.

Fat content of conventional vs grass fed butters, they are very close, grass fed has more beneficial PUFA like CLA and omega 3

2: Would you rather?

French fries deep fried in extra virgin olive oil OR French fries deep fried in high-oleic sunflower oil

Extra virgin olive oil is way more stable under heat than it gets credit for, and deep fryer temperatures of 350F are well below its smoke point. I’d take the EVOO fries all day long, they are common in Europe and definitely safe.

High oleic seed oils are better than high-PUFA seed oils, but it’s unclear just how high-oleic they really are, and they still lack the complex polyphenols and antioxidants needed to keep the oil stable under heat.

3: Would you rather?

Donut fried in palm oil OR Donut fried in canola oil

Palm oil is a bit confusing because palm oil is made from the pulp, like coconut oil, and palm kernel oil is refined from the pit/seed.

HOWEVER, both fats get an overly bad rap on health, due in large part to damage they do to rainforests. Both palm oil and palm kernel oil are almost pure saturated fat and are very safe for deep frying, though we’d prefer a cold pressed palm oil.

I will pass on the canola donut.

4: Would you rather?

Conventional bacon OR conventional hamburger

Pigs have one stomach like us. They are fed corn, soy and soybean oil, like us, so like us they are about 20% PUFA. This makes conventional bacon similar to some seed oils in its fatty acid content. Same logic for chicken though chicken is less fatty overall.

Grain fed beef still passes the grains through its magical 4-chambered saturated fat producing stomach, and will have a much better profile.