Why some cooking oils make more toxic smoke than others
Comparison of Furans Formation and Volatile Aldehydes Profiles of Four Different Vegetable Oils During Thermal Oxidation.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Olive oil, often promoted as stable for cooking, produced the highest levels of two toxic aldehydes (HNE and ONE) — more than soybean or peanut oil.
Common belief is that high-oleic oils like olive oil resist oxidation better than polyunsaturated oils — but this study shows it generates more of these specific harmful aldehydes.
Practical Takeaways
Avoid repeatedly heating oils high in linolenic acid (like perilla) or oleic acid (like olive oil) for long durations at high temps.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Olive oil, often promoted as stable for cooking, produced the highest levels of two toxic aldehydes (HNE and ONE) — more than soybean or peanut oil.
Common belief is that high-oleic oils like olive oil resist oxidation better than polyunsaturated oils — but this study shows it generates more of these specific harmful aldehydes.
Practical Takeaways
Avoid repeatedly heating oils high in linolenic acid (like perilla) or oleic acid (like olive oil) for long durations at high temps.
Publication
Journal
Journal of food science
Year
2019
Authors
Yangling Wang, Mengting Zhu, Jiang Mei, Shuhan Luo, Tuo Leng, Yi Chen, Shaoping Nie, M. Xie
Related Content
Claims (10)
Oils with polyunsaturated fatty acid content exceeding 10% are susceptible to thermal oxidation during cooking, generating harmful aldehydes and polar compounds even below smoke point.
Oils with polyunsaturated fatty acid content exceeding 10% are susceptible to thermal oxidation during cooking, generating cytotoxic aldehydes and lipid peroxides.
When perilla oil is heated, two chemicals—HHE and ethyl furan—are made together because they both come from the same fat molecule, linolenic acid.
When you heat different cooking oils really hot for a long time, they break down and make harmful chemicals, and the type of oil you use determines which chemicals are made.
Perilla oil makes a specific harmful chemical called HHE and ethyl furan when heated, and peanut oil makes more of another chemical called pentyl furan — because each oil has different fats.