I've heard that cooking with olive oil is bad for you and can be toxic. Is this true? If so, to what extent?
I see no warning on the container of my olive oil that states that it would be bad to cook with olive oil.
food-safetyfryingoil
I've heard that cooking with olive oil is bad for you and can be toxic. Is this true? If so, to what extent?
I see no warning on the container of my olive oil that states that it would be bad to cook with olive oil.
Best Answer
I think this is a problem with all oils. When something burns, it produces smoke. Smoke is generally indicative of something that isn't particularly good for us if inhaled. Same holds for oils. It seems that all oils will begin to produce toxins once they hit their smoke point. However, before that, they are completely fine. So pick an oil that will handle the temperature you're using by checking the smoke point.
There's also a difference between producing toxins and toxic. Does burning oil produce toxins? Yes. Will that actually make you sick? I don't know. But my inclination is that it's unlikely to cause you harm under "normal" usage or else we'd be hearing about people actually getting sick from burning their oil rather than just getting scare stories on the news about free radicals.
And to get very sciency (stop reading immediately if your eyes glaze over, I think that's a sign of toxicity), from biology online: