Although fried foods should be avoided in the usual diet because it is not a healthy cooking method; when frying the choice of oil matters more than it seems and for this reason we advise you which one to choose: olive oil or sunflower oil?
Olive oil, the best option for frying
Frying is a cooking method during which the food is immersed in a hot fatty body, usually at 180°C. Therefore, this process involves the absorption of fat by the food being cooked as well as the loss of certain fat-soluble nutrients.
Since fried foods contain more fat and calories than those cooked with other cooking methods it is recommended to avoid fried foods in the usual diet.
However, if we eventually want to make some fried preparation, we recommend use olive oil for it, since it constitutes a source of beneficial monounsaturated fatty acids for the organism, and polyphenols with effect antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.
But in addition to this, we recommend the use of olive oil given its great stability at high temperatures. In other words, it has a much higher smoke point or melting point than sunflower oil and therefore its fats are not easily modified, which reduces the risk of producing trans fats during frying.
As if that were not enough, when frying with olive oil the food retains a lower proportion of fat, and therefore it is a lighter and healthier option for the organism.
For all this, although frying is not advisable, if we are going to fry we recommend choosing olive oil instead of other types of oils that change easily at 160 degrees Celsius and are therefore less stable and less suitable for this cooking method.
In Vitónica | Consumption of fried foods may be linked to increased risk of serious heart disease and stroke
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