Why Cooking With Olive Oil Can Be Harmful to Your Health

A lot of noise has been made in the health press about the various health benefits of adding olive oil to your diet.  Olive oil is low in saturated fat, contains omega 3 fatty acids and can help you lose weight naturally. 

However, there are some real concerns about cooking with olive oil.  These problems stem from heating the oil, rather than consuming it cold in the form of sauces or salad dressings.

When cooking with olive oil, the smoke point is the real concern.  At this point, the nutrients in the oil are cooked out, and harmful vapors can be released.  Unfortunately, extra-virgin olive oil has a very low smoke point – about 250 degrees or so.  This makes it a very poor choice for cooking with.  So why is the smoke point so important?

At this point, the oil you are using begins to literally boil apart.  This leads to a reduction in flavors and health benefits, with many of the nutrients quite literally going up in smoke.  However, you will also find that at this level of heat, olive oil can begin to build up a significant level of carcinogens (cancer causing agents). 

Heating any oil past its smoke point will put these toxins in your food, and even the vapors from the oil cooking in the pan can be harmful to your health.

If you are looking for an oil that has a higher smoke point than olive oil, then consider refined canola oil, or even refined safflower oil.  Semi-refined sunflower oil also has a very high smoke point.  Unrefined oils always have a lower smoke point than refined oils, though they are better for your health.