Refined Edible Oils: A Truth Behind

Kumar Satyam, Lecturer, IHM Bhopal

There are several types of oils used all over the world such as soybean, groundnut, palm,
cottonseed etc. All of them are not the same on their initial state that is crude state. For example;
soybean and rice bran oils are having more impurities, ground nut is relatively low in impurity.
So, industry use the treatment process according to their present impurities. Highly impure oils
are really very-very hard to purify simply using physical treatment thus we have to employ
chemical treatment for the purpose.

What is the difference between physically treated and chemically treated refined edible oils?
Which is better?

In physical refining we use the pressure and temperature gradients only to remove impurities
such as odour, FFA (Free Fatty Acids), gums etc. But in chemical refining we use strong alkali
like NaOH, acids like phosphoric acids etc to remove those non-edible substances. But after
the chemical refining the chemicals and impurities percentage are very-very negligible (less
than 0.01%). In case of physically refined oils the impurities are in somewhat more quantity
but no chemical added for treatment thus physically refined oils are also good.

Soybean oil, maze oil, rice bran oil etc these oils are extremely impure and hard to refined by
physical refining because of their cost of operation and oil loss during processing. It is also
important to remove impurities up to certain level to match edible quality.

Now, anyone can decide on the behalf of personal health; either chose 0.01% chemicals or less
than 1% impurities. Both are the same and equally effect on the body. Physically refined
Ground nut, coconut, sesame, olive oils should be preferred always, as they have less amount
of hazardous impurities. Chemically refined rice bran, soybean, maze, palm oil contains more
amount of impurities. In India; beside ghee entire country is in three zone: pure mustered oil,
cold pressed Til oil, cold pressed coconut Oil. Once it is cold pressed only filtration is required
and it is filtered oil. For refining, oil is treated with various chemical to change its colour odour
taste and contact with such acid or chemical make it undesirable.

In the physically refining of edible oils; edible/vegetable oil refined in a step by step process.
Refining removes phospholipids, pigments, off-flavors, free fatty acids and other impurities
in the crude oil. Whereas in the chemically refining process, oil has been refined by using
chemicals that are harmful to us. In short it means to ‘purify’. But the meaning of purify has
many definitions. It may mean the oil was treated with acid, or purified with an alkali, or
bleached. It can also be neutralized, filtered or deodorized. In the process of making and
refining these types of oils, it leads to PUFas (rancid polyunsaturated fatty acids) which DO
NOT hold up well to high heats. In the process of being extracted from the seed these oils
oxidize and turn into trans fats. The smell is so rancid that a cleaning process has to take
place using bleach to deodorize it.

Refined vegetable oil starts from the seeds of various plant sources. The fats from plant seeds
are polyunsaturated. Polyunsaturated denotes a chemical structure which allows them to
remain in a fluid state at room temperature, but also makes them prone to rancidity when
exposed to heat or light, a process called oxidation. The oxidation factor makes these oils
more likely to break down into cancer-causing free radicals within the body.

The process of making these oils is a highly intensive mechanical and chemical process.
Despite the mainstream insistence that these are healthy fats, they are high in inflammatory
omega-6 fatty acids and made using toxic chemicals. Consuming these oils can increase
body inflammation, elevate blood triglycerides, and worsen an impaired insulin response.
Consuming these oils has been linked to diabetes, cancer and heart disease in multiple
studies.

In addition, many refined vegetable oils are also hydrogenated. This hydrogenation process
makes them solid at room temperature so they can be sold as margarine and shortening. This
hydrogenation process further damages the fatty acids in the oils, creating trans fatty acids,
which are particularly dangerous to human health.