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I don’t know where you’re getting this from. I use canola oil when pan-frying food and it stands heat better then most olive oils. The cold-pressed variety tastes like shit though (well, actually it tastes like canola which has a kale-like flavor that I find unappealing). The refined canola oil is perfect for frying.



Right, I think what he's saying is that you shouldn't use cold-pressed oils for cooking/frying. Cheaper refined oils are better for this purpose. Keep the fancy cold-pressed oils for salads, dipping, drizzling, etc.

Refined olive oil does have a slightly higher smoke point than refined canola/rapeseed oil, but for most home cooking purposes it's probably within the margin of error. Something like refined sunflower oil or refined avocado oil has a higher smoke point still.


Quoting this study https://actascientific.com/ASNH/pdf/ASNH-02-0083.pdf (note: I get an error opening the PDF)

> Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) yielded low levels of polar compounds and oxidative by-products, in contrast to the high levels of by-products generated for oils such as canola oil.

But I formed my position from many other points, the degradation in public health in the USA has tracked perfectly with the switch from animal fats to seed oils for cooking (and other uses but frying is the worse offender)


Any idea where I can find that study? The link above is dead. I have been using Canola oil for frying because I thought it was a neutral tasting oil that didn't produce as many toxic compounds when exposed to high heat—vs olive oil which purportedly did produce them. Seems I've been misinformed.


Here's an article that makes the same point with a great overview of the underlying mechanisms: https://breaknutrition.com/omega-6-fatty-acids-alternative-h...


Unfortunately no, the title is " Evaluation of chemical and physical changes in different commercial oils during heating", hopefully you can find it.


It also tracks perfectly with increased calorie consumption.

So one potential explanation is that people are eating more, and then another potential explanation is that there is some as yet mysterious biological process whereby processing calories through some long extant metabolic pathways triggers changes in health.


It might be good from a culinary perspective, perhaps smoke point is irrelevant, I was thinking of what causes degradation of the fats when subjected to heat.




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