Olive Oil vs Vegetable Oils
Denying 3 prevalent myths
As with any food, many myths that actually degrades the actual nutritional value and complicates the selection process of the consumer. Let's see some of the most common myths related to olive oil and seed oils.
1. Olive oil has more calories than "light" seed oils:
Many people believe that olive oil has more calories than other oils such as corn oil or sunflower oil. This has arisen primarily because of the higher liquidity of these seed/vegetable oils and possibly due to the stronger taste of olive oil. But what applies to reality is that all oils have the same caloric value, yielding 9 calories per gram. Therefore, choosing a seed/vegetable oil instead of olive oil in your cooking "save" calories.
2. Seed/vegetable oil is more digestible than olive oil:
Obviously that has been arisen because of stronger flavor of olive oil and the classification of seed/vegetable oils as "Light" oils. Practice has shown that the degree of olive oil absorption by human body is very large and may even reach 98%, which indicates that our body is able to absorb a high percentage of its nutritional value. Therefore, the digestive ability of olive oil by the human body is very good and doesn't seem to vary in relation to other oils.
3. All oils are the same when frying:
It's a fact that all oils oxidize to some degree by the effect of high-temperature cooking and frying. The strong oxidation leads to the production of peroxides and to the breakdown of their products and polymers, compounds that have been linked strongly with the appearance of health problems. Particularly during frying, when temperature is too high, the lesions are still more. However, it is not true that all oils are the same resistant when frying. Olive oil is recognized as the most stable oil and oxidized to a lesser degree than other oils. This stability is due to the high content of monounsaturated fat acids (mainly oleic acid) and antioxidants such as polyphenols and vitamin E. So the fact that olive oil is more stable and it is not oxidized easily makes it the best choice even when it comes to frying.