The Hemp Connection:
lard

I was recently asked by a colleague, what I thought about various popular cooking oils…in particular, grapeseed, flaxseed, canola, and pumpkin seed oil. Here is a summary.

First of all, all of these oils are oils, and their caloric content is roughly similar, about 50 calories per teaspoon. You will not save calories by choosing a particular oil, and there is no oil you can eat limitless quantities of without the caloric content eventually catching up with you.

Secondly, as far as omega-3 content, any vegetable oil containing omega-3 fatty acids contains ALA, NOT the EPA and DHA found in seafood. Even though some ALA can be converted to DHA, it does not occur in quantities needed to therapeutically treat PCOS, or to maintain the integrity of brain structure in the general population. The reason ALA is important, is that it helps to protect the body from inflammation and when it is consumed in adequate quantities, it allows DHA to do its job. In other words, if all you are doing is taking a few fish oil capsules but not changing your diet, you are not very likely to benefit from the fish oil.

That being said, when you choose oils to cook with, you want to remember that your overall dietary omega 6 to omega 3 ratio should be 10:1 or less, in order to reduce the possibility of insulin resistance. How do these four oils measure up?

I boldfaced the ones I prefer.

Grapeseed oil 696 to 1
Yikes!

Flaxseed oil 0.238 to 1
Now you know why we love flaxseed so much around here. Here is some information on some flaxseed oils you can cook with that you might find interesting.

Canola oil 2 to 1
Whether or not you want to include canola oil in your diet is part of your own food religion. If it fits for you, know its ratio is excellent. If it does not, you may want to investigate the flaxseed oil option listed above.

Pumpkin seed oil 3 to 1
Not bad!

Lard 10 to 1
This surprised me. It also made me feel better about my love of tamales.: )

Butter 8.6 to 1
Even better than lard!

Margarine, stick 11.4 to 1
Don't go there.

Margarine, tub 4.8 to 1
The only problem here is that in order to make a liquid oil solid…it has to be turned into trans fat. Wrong kind of omega-6 oil.

My blogger name is hormonewoman; I chose that for a reason. When hormones get out of balance, and out of balance is where they are when we don't take care of ourselves, that's when chronic diseases like PCOS become common…not to mention troublesome.

A relatively new hormone (well, it's been around as long as there have been humans but it's new as far as us scientists knowing it and understanding it) is adiponectin. This hormone helps to combat heart disease and diabetes. And it is apparently sensitive to the kinds of fats we choose to eat.

A population of mice was divided into four groups, each one receiving one of the four following fats: soybean oil, fish oil, coconut oil, or lard. Their biochemical response was measured after 2 days and 60 days on this diet. With every type of fat, except fish oil, adiponectin levels were reduced. Soybean oil and coconut oil produced the most significant reductions.

We're just not going to get around it, are we? Some kinds of fats just aren't health-friendly. Some food options, just need to be passed by.

Bueno AA, Oyama LM, de Oliveira C, Pisani LP, Ribeiro EB, Silveira VL, Oller do Nascimento CM. Effects of different fatty acids and dietary lipids on adiponectin gene expression in 3T3-L1 cells and C57BL/6J mice adipose tissue. Pflugers Arch. 2008 Jan;455(4):701-9. Epub 2007 Aug 24.