Olive Versus Seed: Which Oil Should You Fry With?

Frying foods in olive oil, rather than seed or nut oil, is far more nutritious and holds up better under intense heat when preparing fried foods, according to a new study.

Some oils may degrade when heated, creating byproducts that may lower the nutritional value of the foods or may be toxic to consume.

In order to determine which oils held up best under extreme temperatures, researchers pan-fried and deep-fried pieces of raw potato in 4 different refined oils: corn, olive, sunflower, and soybean. Researchers reused the oil 10 different times.
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The study showed that olive oil remained the most stable for deep-frying the potatoes at 320 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, sunflower oil proved the least stable when pan-fried at 356 degrees.

Investigators noted that for all frying foods, olive oil held the most nutrition and presented better overall quality compared to seed oils.

The complete study is published in the October issue of Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.

-Michelle Canales

References:

Pereira SMP, Geoffroy MC, Power C. Monitoring of quality and stability characteristics and fatty acid compositions of refined olive and seed oils during repeated pan-and-deep-frying using GC, FT-NIRS, and chemometrics. J Agric Food Chem. 2014 October [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1021/jf503146f.

ACS. Olive oil more stable and healthful than seed oils for frying food. October 22, 2014.  www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2014/acs-presspac-october-22-2014/olive-oil-more-stable-and-healthful-than-seed-oils-for-frying-food.html. Accessed October 23, 2014.