Cold-Pressed Oil vs. Refined Oil

Cold-Pressed Oil vs. Refined Oil

In today’s busy world no one could give much attention to maintain good health, but health can be maintained by healthy eating. Eating healthy not only keeps us healthy but also keeps away from various kinds of diseases. Nowadays a lot of people suffer from lifestyle disease which is due to poor eating habits. Oil being one of the basic ingredients of all kinds of food items, we have to give much importance while choosing a healthy edible oil for our food. Choosing a good type of oil is much important nowadays because various types of oils are available in the market and they all may not be healthy for you. 

Oils are now divided into two major categories based on their preparation methods, which are Cold Pressed Oil and Refined Oil. Both types of oils are now available in the market but you have to choose the one which is best for your health. Although companies focus much on preparing Refined Oil, there are new emerging companies that are producing a good amount of Cold Pressed Oil. 

How are these Oils made?

1. Refined Oil – Refined oils are mostly prepared under high temperatures using modernized techniques. This is also called hot-pressed oil. The seeds are first cleaned and washed properly after that they are grind at a very high speed in machines that produce a huge amount of heat which is close to 200°C. Apart from this various types of chemicals are also added at various stages of preparation of this oil. These chemicals help to give a good texture and color to the oil and also helps in improving the life of oil so that they can be preserved for years. 
2. Cold-pressed Oil – Cold-pressed oils are prepared by using an age-old technique and the concept of making this oil is much similar to Kacchi-Ghani which was in use for years and is still used in a few places. Cold-pressed oils are prepared in a way that is completely opposite to the making of Refined Oils. Firstly, the seeds are washed and are dried completely, after drying they are crushed and pressed to extract oil out of the seeds. In the entire making, process heat is not used at any stage. Preparing Cold-pressed Oil requires much more effort than Refined Oil as the process does not involve heating and only crushing and pressing of seeds is done to extract oil. 

Effects on Health by the two types of Oils

The process of preparing Refined Oil involves much more heat which ultimately destroys the natural nutrients of seeds and makes them useless. When the seeds are subjected to heat, they lose all their nutritional value, and the oil produced after that does not contain the required amount of nutrients. Refined oil undergoes a lot of filtration stages using various types of chemicals that are much harmful for human consumption. Reined oil loses all its nutrients and becomes fat-rich. The refining process increases the trans fat which is much responsible for various heart diseases. Refined Oil slowly attacks and reduces the overall functionality of organs. Some researches proved that continuous consumption of Refined Oil may lead to a heart attack in near future. Hence the harmful effects of Refined oil can not be overlooked and it is required to monitor its consumption in our day-to-day life. 

Cold-pressed Oils are prepared by much simpler methods and do not involve the use of any type of chemicals. The seeds are pressed and crushed to extract the oil without applying heat and that is why all its nutrients are intact and the nutritional value of oil is maintained. Cold-pressed oils are rich in nutrients and do not have any negative effect on our health if consumed in a limited quantity. People nowadays are shifting from Refined Oil to Cold-pressed oil because of its variety of health benefits. The method of preparation of Cold-pressed oil makes it much more special and useful. Cold-pressed oil is rich in nutrition and does not have any side effects, hence it can be used for cooking.

Cold-pressed oils have a variety of health benefits as they are nutrients rich and contain healthy fats which are good for our body growth. Cold-pressed oil is also good for youngsters as it helps in promoting brain health and keeps the body active all the time. Apart from this Cold-pressed Oils also protects us from a lot of heart diseases which usually occurred due to Refined Oil. 

Which one is better?

As both types of oils are available in the market but their method of preparation is entirely different which creates much difference between the two. Using Cold-pressed Oil over Refined Oil would be much beneficial because it is much healthier and rich in nutrients that are required by our body. But if we look at the cost of the two, definitely Cold-pressed Oil is costly as compared to Refined Oil due to difficulties involved in its making process. Also, from a given amount of seed, much more oil can be extracted using the Refined process than the Cold-pressed Oil process. That is the main reason why Cold-pressed Oils are available at much higher rates than Refined Oil. 

Another thing that needs to be considered is the life of the two types of oils. As a huge amount of chemicals are used in Refined Oils, they increase their life to much more extent than Cold-pressed Oils. Cold-pressed oils tend to expire much sooner than Refined Oils because there is no additional external agent added to extend their life.

But if you give more priority to health over price rates then definitely Cold-pressed Oil is a perfect fit for you. Due to its variety of ingredients and various health benefits, it should be preferred for regular use. As Cold-pressed Oils can be preserved for a longer duration you can purchase only the required amount of oil for a while. The vast health advantages of Cold-pressed Oils and the disadvantage of Refined Oil should be considered every time you decide on choosing edible oil for you and your family.

Using The Cold-Pressed Oil

As Cold-pressed oil contains abundant nutrients and does not have any harmful effects on our health, it is good to use it in cooking. The good thing about Cold-pressed oil is that you require a lesser amount of oil to carry out a cooking task as compared to Refined oil. If you require 2 liters of Refined oil for a particular cooking task then you will just need 1 liter of Cold-pressed oil to finish the same cooking task. Hence Cold-pressed oils in that sense are cost-effective. But there are certain things which need to be kept in mind while using Cold-pressed oil for cooking. They must be used in limited quantities and should not be exposed to a large amount of heat so that they do not lose their nutritional value. Cold-pressed oil should only be used to give a good flavor to your food. Some of the oils are simply sprinkled on the food like that of sesame and olive oil as they can be exposed to heat directly. Hence Cold-pressed oil should be used with due care and in limited quantity.