Re-use of Cooking Oil: We Indians are very smart in food. Unless something becomes completely tasty and spicy, it is not eaten at all. It is common for us to fry things to make them tasty, but we have one more specialty, we do not let anything go to waste. For example, if we fry something, then the oil that is left over from it, we use it again. Often oil is left after frying puris. After cooling this oil, we use it in other things. But this method of ours is very wrong. Even due to this method, the risk of diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease increases manifold.
When we heat oil on high flame, it reaches around 170-180 degree temperature. Due to excessive heating, the internal structure of the oil gets disintegrated and many types of harmful toxins start forming in it, which promotes many diseases.
Oxide in oil breaks down the cell structure
Dr. Priyanka Rohatgi, Chief Clinical Nutritionist, at Apollo Hospital, has written her thesis on this topic. He said that there are three types of fatty acids in cooking oil. short-chain fatty acids, medium-chain fatty acids, and long-chain fatty acids. Most cooking oil is a short-chain fatty acid. When we heat the oil in the pan, the short-chain fatty acid starts breaking down, and when its bond starts breaking, oxygen and hydrogen present in the air start taking its place.
Diseases caused by free radicals
Dr. Priyanka Rohatgi told that when we reheat very hot oil, it contains more bad fatty acids than before, which increases the free radicals in the body. Due to free radicals, the oxidation process in the body becomes very fast. That is, swelling or inflammation starts forming in the cells. Due to this, the cell is not able to do its work. Secondly, the healthy cells are also engaged in repairing this bad cell. As inflammation increases in the cell, the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart attack, high BP, stroke, obesity, etc. increases manifold.
What to do then
Dr. Priyanka Rohatgi told that if we keep the pan on fire for a long time and fry the puris in it for a long time, then this oil gets spoiled completely. It is better to throw this oil away. Especially if you have used short-chain fatty acid oil, do not use it again under any circumstances. Coconut oil, ghee, butter, refined oil, etc. contain short-chain fatty acids. That is, it gets spoiled immediately at high temperatures. But if you want to reuse the oil left over from the puris, then it would be better to use monosaturated oil like mustard oil or rice bran.
