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Lowering Your Cholesterol
Comparisons of Different Oils
Although all of the oils listed below (except butter) contain no measurement of dietary
cholesterol, to lower your own cholesterol level, you must use oils low in saturated fat.
Canola oil (7% saturated fat) is one of the best available cooking oils. Olive oil
(14% saturated fat) is also good to use.
One more rule that makes this chart just a bit misleading. Any fat that is hard at room
temperature, such as stick margarine, is not good for your cholesterol. Margarine has been
hydrogenated (hardened) and that process adds trans fatty acids.
Trans fatty acids may be as bad for you as saturated fat, so stick margarine is equal
to butter as far as your cholesterol is concerned. Diet and soft margarines are a better
bet. Also look for brands of margarine or shortening that top the ingredient list with
oils rich in monounsaturated fat, like canola oil.
Try substituting butter and margarine with a fruit puree. Prune puree is one particularly
popular alternative but try using applesauce and apricots as substitutes.
What has the chefs who specialize in nutrition so excited about using prune puree is the
significant difference in fat grams as well as calories. One cup of prune puree has 407
calories and one gram of fat. One cup of butter has 1,600 calories and 182 grams of fat.
One cup of oil has 1,944 calories and 218 grams of fat. You can see now why bakers are
excited about prunes!
Prunes also contain large amounts of pectin which helps hold in the air bubbles that make
baked good rise. They also have large amounts of sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, which helps
keep baked goods moist and gives them the flaky, tender taste of shortening or butter.
The only drawback to using fruits like applesauce and apricots as fat substitutes is that
baked goods tend to become soggy and moldy within a day or two so plan quantities
accordingly. Also, when baking with substitutes for fat, use cake flour instead of
regular all purpose flour. It will keep the baked good tender. Don't over bake your fat
reduced recipes as they do tend to dry out quicker than traditional recipes that call for
butter or oil.
| Product |
Saturated |
Cholesterol |
Polyunsaturated |
Monounsaturated |
| Canola Oil |
7% |
0 mg |
35% |
58% |
| Safflower Oil |
9% |
0 mg |
78% |
12% |
| Sunflower Oil |
11% |
0 mg |
42% |
47% |
| Corn Oil |
13% |
0 mg |
62% |
25% |
| Olive Oil |
14% |
0 mg |
12% |
74% |
| Hydrogenated Sunflower Oil |
14% |
0 mg |
40% |
48% |
| Sesame Oil |
15% |
0 mg |
44% |
42% |
| Soybean Oil |
15% |
0 mg |
60% |
24% |
| Margarine, bottled |
17% |
0 mg |
47% |
36% |
| Margarine, tub |
17% |
0 mg |
37% |
46% |
| Peanut Oil |
18% |
0 mg |
33% |
49% |
| Margarine, stick |
19% |
0 mg |
33% |
47% |
| Cocoa Butter |
62% |
0 mg |
3% |
35% |
| Butter |
66% |
31 mg |
4% |
30% |
| Palm Kernel Oil |
87% |
0 mg |
2% |
11% |
| Coconut Oil |
92% |
0 mg |
2% |
6% |
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