Which oil has the highest saturated fat content?
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February 16th, 2006
I was very interested in comparing the saturated
fat content of the various oils commonly used in NZ. Below is
an unbiased report which I hope you will find useful. You might
notice the rice bran oil currently being promoted as ‘the healthy
oil’ does not score too well. What do you use for your cooking
and deep frying?
What is saturated fat and why is it bad for you? Saturated fat
is mainly derived from animals e.g. butter has a very high saturated
fat content. Fat gives us flavour and provides a feeling of
‘fullness’ and energy. While we need fat as part of our diet,
too much can be bad and can cause obesity and heart disease.
MyRecipes ingredients are all linked with nutritional
information provided by the Scientists at Crop and Food Research.
This is the same information manufacturers’use when they label
their products. By searching the MyRecipes
ingredient section you can quickly find a nutritional breakdown
for an ingredient.
MyRecipes also displays a graph showing how
the ingredient or recipe compares to NZ’s recommended daily
intake. The red bars show this is over the recommended daily
intake while the green bars mean it is good. Here’s the info
for butter:
The Eatwell Apple is very similar to the Heart Foundation Tick.
This highlights items which are below 10% total fat and sugar.
When a recipe meets this criteria the apple is displayed.
Which meat has the highest saturated fat content? Look out for
this in next months Bon Appetit.