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Comment by firasd | Hacker News Reader

In fact the trend to replace butter with vegetable oils has led people to ingest more trans fats which are provably more dangerous than saturated fat.

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I thought no reputable vegetable oil brand uses trans fats anymore.

As far as I know, that shift has only occurred in the past decade or so, after the FDA started requiring trans fat to be listed on the Nutrition Facts label. It might be too soon to look for the effects of that change on long-term risks for cardiovascular disease.

The sad thing is that the FDA first had to be convinced to allow trans fats to be listed. Later it required them to be labeled.

Also, FDA labeling allows "0g trans fat" for food with 0.5 g per serving, and listed serving sizes are often laughable, so I wonder. This article I just found claims "0.56% to 4.2% trans fats" in "soybean and canola oils found on store shelves in the U.S." (https://authoritynutrition.com/6-reasons-why-vegetable-oils-...) Dunno how much weight to give it; I try to avoid those oils anyway.

I've always been taught that after olive oil, canola is the best to use for cooking. What am I supposed to use?!

There's coconut oil and palm fruit oil. (There may be environmental concerns about the latter.) I also use butter/ghee sometimes. (And olive oil, but you already mentioned it.) For non-cooking, I like flaxseed oil.

Interesting. I've been taught the opposite due to the low smoke point of olive oil.

I use Avocado oil; it has a high smoke point and seems healthier. Other oils are OK if you don't cook on high heat (use medium heat or lower).

Thanks I'll try out Avocado oil. Someone else mentioned it also. When I say "taught" I really mean my mom said "that one's good. Oh that one's good, too."

Olive oil comes in many varieties, and some of them have a smoke point comparable to canola, or even higher. Even the unrefined varieties tend to have a fairly high smoke point. So unless you're searing, olive oil is just fine for cooking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoke_point

https://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/heating-olive-oil

The theory I go by is to avoid highly polyunsaturated oils (which include canola); prefer monounsaturates. Olive oil is indeed the best if you're not going to get it too hot; next is avocado oil. Hi-oleic safflower/sunflower might be a third choice (better, at least, than canola).

In India safflower and sunflower oil are recommended as being better for the heart, etc. Don't know enough to say if that is right or not.

Also, recently I think I read that coconut oil may not be as harmful as thought earlier by some (my guess is people thought it was harmful because it congeals at a higher temperature than other vegetable oils do). But on the other hand, people in coastal states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, etc., must be using it a lot, and I have not read about them having higher cardiac problems.

All this is just anecdotal, BTW.

Don't worry too much about the low amounts. Develop cooking techniques to use less oil (non-stick pans, measuring out oil, etc), and switch between oils when you cook. I don't figure I'm eating enough fats to worry about it, as I don't eat meat and limit fish/seafood to once every week or two.

I use either butter or a butter/canola blend for most stovetop cooking and generally use an olive/canola blend for breadmaking, with the exception of pizza crust which is oil-free.

I just checked what the Finnish wikipedia has to say about trans fats last night, and it makes the claim that margarine's trans fat content is <= 0.5% while vegetable oils contain none of it, and butter contains 2%. All numbers are low enough that the trans-fat content isn't a concern, but butter is comparatively worse. Apparently studies show similar numbers in Sweden.

Historically many margarines were made using partially hydrogenated oils. That was discontinued in recent decades.

Partially hydrogenated oils were also popular for deep frying (they last longer).

Partially hydrogenated oils are shelf-stable, so they're used in a lot of individually-wrapped junk food items. That kind of stuff should be left out of just about any diet.

It used to be the case. It isn't any longer.

It's one of the reasons that packaging got more annoying in recent years.

In addition to consumer preferences, the FDA called for a phase out in 2015: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm372915.ht...

If you're saying the phase-out is really happening and widespread, that's great. Nothing could make me happier. Partially hydrogenated oils are basically poison. I've noticed them falling off the ingredients list of some of the junk in the store.

Yes, it's real.

For example:

https://www.generalmills.com/Health/improving-health/reducin...

The consumer preference things is real too. Here's Kraft working to avoid "trans fats" on their labels in 2005:

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Kraft-slashes-tr...

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