Evaluation of the Quality of Commonly Used Edible Oils and The Effects of Frying

Abstract

Oils and fats hold paramount importance in our diet. Today, as the expense factor is significant, the population finds itself repeatedly using the same fried oil. Reusing cooking oils increases the risk to type-2 diabetes, acidity, and the presence of free radicals in the body which causes inflammation. The present study aims to showcase the numerical data of the deleterious effects caused by reusing oils, and thereby educate the population to halt this practise. Commonly consumed oils namely Refined Sunflower oil, Extra Virgin Olive oil, Refined Groundnut oil and Refined Palm oil were subjected to various tests; physical parameters involving pH, density, specific gravity and viscosity; and chemical parameters such as saponification value, iodine number, peroxide, acid, p-anisidine value and totex value were determined. The decreasing trend of iodine values and increasing trend of all the other parameters highlights the oxidative nature and introduction of free radicals in the samples.