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Whenever the discussion is about heart, never ending debates start on cooking oil: the quantity one should have, the type of oil one should eat and most importantly, how safe is refined oil?

Our health depends on what we eat and how we eat it. Food cooked in lots of oil has a damaging effect on the body. Doctors have advised on eating the right amount of oil and also the right kind of oil.

Oil that has been refined and altered using chemicals is harmful to us. In short it means to ‘purify’. But purifying 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. All of which require chemicals like Hexane, explains Dr Sharad Jain, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad.

Adding more to this, Dr. Bimal Chhajer, a former consultant at AIIMS says unrefined oils like Mustard Oil (Sarso Ka Tel) and Sunflower Oil are said to be much healthier than refined oils with fewer chemicals mixed. Unrefined oils are very close to their natural form even after the extraction process, retaining their nutrients and flavor.

Ever since refined oil has become a household cooking product, a lot of people have been wondering if it's good for their heart? While there is no ONE right answer to this question, a lot of studies have proven it to increase a person's bad LDL cholesterol along with triglycerides and their insulin levels, says Dr Chhajer.

The experts agree that refined oils are manufactured with hazardous chemicals and contain a lot of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids, which can aggravate an impaired insulin response and cause more inflammation in the body.

Several research studies have linked consumption of refined oils to diabetes, cancer and heart disease.

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, says Dr Jain.

“As dangerous as refined oils can be to our health, what is even more dangerous is the repeated use of hydrogenated oils (Crisco and margarine). These are some of the most dangerous products in the market today, warns Dr Jain.

Many times, health experts have warned people not to consume used edible oil which has been cooked several times.

The deleterious effects of cooking oil has been the reason behind several diseases including life threatening ones like heart disease, experts have said.

As per a 2016 research study, repeatedly heated cooking oil has higher peroxide value in comparison to oil that has been unheated or singly heated. The study found that of several factors that lead to colorectal cancer in humans, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have generated the most interest as they are formed during cooking at high temperatures. It said that foods like vegetables, fruits, oils, dairy products and meat are more prone to contamination with these harmful compounds during processing of food, cooking methods, time, temperature, amount of fat/oil added.