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How good (or bad) is sunflower oil for cooking? (self.askscience)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by XiELEd to c/[email protected]

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I've seen this question asked on Reddit multiple times, and the comments usually say that sunflower oil is not healthy because it contains high amounts of linoleic acid, HOWEVER, all of them were in the context of the high amounts of Omega-6 in the American diet which doesn't apply to me... so I would like some answers with less bias towards the American diet.

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[–] TheGiantKorean 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There is some evidence as of late that points to a correlation between worsened gut health and high linoleic acid levels:

https://abc7.com/soy-protein-lecithin-soybean/13584590/

That article is specifically about soybean oil, but sunflower oil also has a high linoleic acid content.

I think it really depends on your total linoleic acid intake. If you're using a variety of cooking oils, and/or different cooking methods (e.g. steaming) then it probably doesn't matter much.

Where I think it matters is when someone is taking in a diet of mostly prepared, highly processed foods that have things like soybean oil added.