Oil

Food · Fat & Oil · Food, Typed Supps

All cooking oils have nearly the same calories. What separates them is the type of fat and whether they survive a hot pan.

Stage by stage

Intake (Little to slow it): Oil carries no fibre, protein or water, so it passes the mouth and stomach with little to slow it.
Digestion (Emulsified and cleaved): Bile emulsifies the triglycerides and lipase cleaves them into absorbable fatty acids.
Circulation (Carried as chylomicrons): Absorbed fat is repackaged for transport, carrying the oil's vitamin E with it.
Tissues (Cholesterol effect): The fatty acid mix determines the effect: unsaturated oils replacing saturated fat lower LDL over weeks.

Time to effect

Wks: Blood cholesterol responds to a saturated-for-unsaturated swap over roughly 3 to 6 weeks.

Allergens

None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.

Eating patterns

Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Low-FODMAP.

Satiety

30 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — low. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.

Environmental footprint

7.3 kg CO2e and 1098 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Palm oil" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.

Cost band

Cheap — roughly £3 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.

Key nutrients

Polyunsaturated fat
Monounsaturated fat
Vitamin E

Nutrition per 100g

Calories: 883
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrate: 0g
of which sugars: 0g
Fat: 99.9g
of which saturated: 9.1g
Fibre: 0g
Sodium: 0mg

Food vs. supplement

Flaxseed and hemp oils are marketed as omega-3 supplements, but they supply ALA, which converts to EPA and DHA inefficiently. As a food fat they are useful; as an omega-3 source they do not replace oily fish.

Kitchen tip

Match the oil to the heat: oleic-rich and refined oils for frying, cold-pressed hemp and flaxseed for dressings only, stored cold and dark.

Common myth

"Some cooking oils are much lighter in calories than others." In reality: They are not. Every oil in this family is around 99% fat and within a few calories per spoonful of the rest. What genuinely differs is the fat type and how well the oil survives heat.