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Importance of multi source cooking oils for health needs
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Monday, 06 February, 2023, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Dr Shalini Sehgal
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The dietary recommendations have focused on balancing calorie intake and decreasing fat content for decades. But we fail to understand that fat is one of the three essential macronutrients the body needs, along with carbohydrates and proteins. The cornerstone of most dietary recommendations for lowering the cardiovascular disease (CVD), risk has been based on reducing the amount of saturated fat in the diet.
A balanced diet should include healthful monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats which include omega-3 (alpha-linolenic) and omega-6 (linoleic) fatty acids. The inclusion of these healthful fats in one’s daily meal not only creates a sense of fullness, but slows down the digestion of carbohydrates, and adds flavour to food.
They assist in the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins, providing essential fatty acids and protection of organs. Some fatty acids also maintain blood lipid balance, better immune functions, and better brain functioning. Studies have shown that both the quantity and the quality of fat have an impact on the health of an individual. As per the ICMR-NIN report, adults having a sedentary lifestyle should consume about 25 g of visible fat, while individuals doing physical work need 30 - 40g of visible fat accounting for 15-30% of the diet.
Edible oils act as a predominant source of fats in our daily diet. In India, they are the basic ingredient in cooking and various food formulations. The nutritive value of edible oils depends upon various factors such as the types of fatty acids present, their degree of unsaturation, and arrangement. The consumption of essential PUFAs like linoleic acid (LA) and alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), in the diet, is essential since they cannot be synthesized by the human body.
No single-seeded vegetable oil provides good functional and nutritional properties, along with appropriate oxidative stability. Therefore, they need to be modified to enhance their commercial applications with better functionality and oxidative stability along with improved nutritional quality using different methods.
One such method is the Blending of oils which is used for modifying the profile of an oil at an industrial level. The rationale for multi-source cooking oil is that not all single oils offer the benefit of a complete balance of fatty acids, and oxidative stability during high-temperature processing or usage. Blending is a scientific, feasible, and economical method to enhance the physicochemical and nutritional properties of the oil in a healthy way with multiple health benefits.
It has become a common practice in the food industry and as a result, there has been an increase in the availability of multi-source oils in the market over the last few years.
A multi-source vegetable cooking oil is a mixture of edible oils where the proportion by weight of one oil must not be less than 20 percent. A traditional oil can be blended with unconventional oils to achieve an ideal fatty acid combination. Oils which have bioactive lipids such as medium-chain triglycerides; antioxidant compounds and high oxidative stability are desirable for optimum functional and nutritive benefits. For example, blending soybean oil with other oils like rice bran oil, sesame oil, and groundnut oil provides not only omega-3 fatty acids but also important antioxidants and bioactive compounds in the resultant blend, with health benefits.
Unsaturated fatty acids which are Monounsaturated (MUFA) and Polyunsaturated (PUFA) has active nutrients that provide health benefits like reducing LDL-cholesterol levels and promoting heart health. But PUFA is not very heat stable, and their degradation products may pose a risk to human health. Hence, they need to be blended with more heat-stable oils like groundnut oil and rice bran oil.
Blending allows the creation of unique blends with different nutritional and functional benefits, in addition to offering a better fatty acid profile, such as low absorption oils; oils with improved taste (groundnut oil: sesame oil); oils for better heart health (rice bran oil: sunflower oil with added oryzanol). Multi-source cooking oil is prepared by blending of high-value oils with affordable oils because of which the costs of it are reasonable and competitive.
The majority of vegetable oils lack certain essential characteristics in their natural form. Hence, there is a need for healthy and stable oil in day-to-day life. A multi-source cooking oil is an economical and regulated option to provide oil with a balanced fatty acid profile, and greater stability along with increased content of antioxidants and bioactive compounds. These oils are highly beneficial in managing cardiovascular disease in the country.
(The author is associate professor, Department of Food Technology, Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, University of Delhi)
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