Cooking oil has many different nutrients in its and the nutrient that is in the most amount is fats which keep our body warm and give us energy to work. But excessive cooking oil in food can make us very fat and unhealthy. So, we should eat food that has the right amount of oil in it. Cooking oils are used for frying, baking, pickling etc. Cooking oil makes food soft which can absorbed by our body.

There is one wrong believe that “Oil is fat, and fat is bad”, but actually we need fats – we can’t live without them, in fact. Fats are an important part of a healthy diet: They provide essential fatty acids, keep our skin soft, deliver fat-soluble vitamins, and are a great source of energizing fuel.

Now let us take a look at the different types of oils.
There are many types of oils such as-
• Mustard oil
• Cotton-seed oil
• Corn oil
• Sunflower oil
• Soybean oil
• Sesame oil
• Coconut oil
• Olive oil
• Canola oil
• Peanut oil

Cotton Seed Oil

Cotton is by nature not an oil product, but it is a cloth fiber. Cotton-seed oil is extracted from cotton-seeds.

The cotton-seed oil is unhealthy as a worm called the pink boll worm attacks on the seeds of the cotton plant and remain in the seeds till extracted then they are crushed within the cotton-seeds. These worms get inside the cotton-seed as there is no outer shell protection in the seeds.
Now a days, Cotton crop is based on Bt cotton which is genetically modified. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis – a soil bacterium which contains a toxic gene called Bt gene. The aim is to make the cotton crop resistant to boll worm. Hence through genetic engineering the gene is inserted into the cotton seed, hence final cotton & seeds also contain such toxic compounds.

Cotton, the plant where this edible oil is extracted from, is one of the crops most heavily sprayed with petrochemicals as well. It also has a natural toxin compound in the seeds which is called gossypol, a substance that has shown to cause sterility in rates and this oil has been seen as a threat to men’s fertility.

Cottonseed oil is mainly polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), and linoleic acid makes up a majority of its PUFA content. A teaspoon of cotton-seed oil contains only 2.4g of monounsaturated fats. It has a good amount of polyunsaturated fats. It contains 7g of polyunsaturated fats per teaspoon.
It has a very large amount of saturated fats too that can lead to heart diseases, cancer & Skin Irritation. It has 3.5g of saturated fats per teaspoon. Cotton-seed oil is used only for making salads, but not advisable for use to routine cooking.

Corn Oil

Corn oil is extracted from the germs of a corn. It is also very bad for health as it has high amount of phytosterols-a group of compounds found in plant cell membranes that help block cholesterol absorption in the digestive system. It also makes our arteries hard and damages our heart too.

Sunflower Oil

Sunflower oil is extracted from the seeds of the sunflower plant. It can be used as cooking oil as it has a high smoke point. It contains 14% of saturated fat in it which is higher than other oils. It can increase the amount of cholesterol too. The sunflower oil contains high amounts of omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids which cannot be produced by our body. If there is an increase in the ratio of any of these acids, than it can lead diseases like arthritis, asthma, cancer and heart disease. Sunflower oil contains 7% of polyunsaturated fats.

Organic Peanut Oil (Groundnut Oil)

Peanut oil also known as groundnut oil or arachis oil is mild-tasting oil extracted from peanuts.

Peanut oil comes in a number of varieties, including refined, unrefined, roasted and cold-pressed, which have slight differences in their nutritional value and health benefits.

Generally, people use peanut oil in their cooking for the delicious flavor it gives to the food, particularly if we use the roasted variety, as well as the fact that it is healthier than many types of oils. Peanut oil is most commonly used in Asian cultures, including that of China and Southeast Asian nations like Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Most of the health benefits of peanut oil come from its diverse types of fatty acids, such as oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and linoleic acid, among others. While unbalanced levels of fatty acids can be dangerous for your health, peanut oil has a very safe balance that can boost your health in a variety of ways, in addition to the health benefits from the other vitamins, minerals, and organic compounds found in peanuts.

The main ingredient is fatty acid, 46.8% linoleic acid (33.4%) and polemic acid (10.0%) as oilseed (olive acid). It includes silken granulated fat vitamin A and vitamin E.

The benefits of peanut oil are as follows:
• Peanut oil is low in saturated fats, free from cholesterol, contains essential fatty acid ( linoleic acid (omega-6)) making it as one of the healthiest cooking oils.
• Peanut oil also contains monounsaturated fatty acids, like oleic acid, which increase the levels of “good cholesterol”, called HDL, in the blood. This beneficial cholesterol actually helps to scrape off and reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and lower your risk of developing coronary heart diseases and strokes.
• Peanut oil contains resveratrol, a polyphenol antioxidant, which has been found to have protective function against cancers, heart disease, degenerative nerve disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and viral/fungal infections.
• It also helps in lowering the blood pressure.
• It also boosts the immune system.
• Organic Peanut are grown up using organic farming methods(which prevent use of chemical based pesticides and synthetic fertilizers)