Health and Economy: India's Cooking Oil Problem

Today, I went to buy cooking oil. While shifting through the shelves, I reached up to Saffola Active and went through the texts. I noticed the following:

1.      It is a blended oil which is supposed to be better

2.      It is 80% rice bran oil which is supposed to be the healthiest oil on the block

3.      Rice bran oil it is produced from the outer layer rice i.e. it is not from any exotic seed

4.      It is manufactured in India (near Mumbai) so it is not an imported oil

5.      Saffola is from the house of Marico, a trusted Indian brand

At this point, my mind went into thoughts.

Recently, India removed an article from its constitution viz. Art 370 which was provisioned to grant special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir temporarily. This was entirely an internal matter of India. No other countries were party to it. Most other countries supported India in its decision when Pakistan tried to make an international controversy out of it.

But later on, Malaysia Prime Minister supported Pak in United Nations on J&K issue because of religion (both countries are dominated by Islam). Btw, Malaysia is also supporting hatemongering Islamic radical preacher Zakir Naik and not allowing his extradition to India. I think Malaysia is taking unnecessary risk in this regard and it is almost stupid.

On economic front, India and Malaysia share an interesting bond. India is world's largest importer of edible oils. And India is the biggest importer of Palm Oil from Malaysia and hence India and Indian interest should matter to Malaysia. Note that India has option to import it from Indonesia, Argentina and Ukraine. Here are some articles about this matter: Article 1, Article 2

But I do not understand how we reached this situation where we are importing since we still have plenty of local traditional oils like mustard/coconut oils. The trend is summarized very well here:

In India, since time immemorial, the oil you use in your kitchen is largely dependent on where you come from. In Kerala, it's coconut oil, in Andhra and Rajasthan, it's sesame oil, in the east and north they use mustard oil and in central India and Gujarat groundnut oil is used. Different cultures eat differently and the type of oil fits beautifully into the food landscape of that region.

But all that changed in the 80's with the scare of cholesterol and heart disease. Overnight ghee got a bad name and we were told that we should avoid trans-fats and sunflower oil became popular. That was in the 90's.But today it's an altogether different story. You have new types of oil spilling across the grocery shelves from around the world and each new bottle label brings with it a new health hope.

The same article tells about rice bran oil:

A fairly new kid on the block and a fast rising favourite amongst the manufacturers, rice bran oil is made from the outer layer (bran) of the grain of rice. Health experts claim that it's the healthiest oil on the planet. While I cannot vouch for that, I do know that while trying it out on my food show series, called Guilt Free, the taste did not clash with Indian food and it worked pretty well in cookies and cakes.

Apparently, rice bran oil has a chemical called oryzanol which is good for your cholesterol. It is high in monounsaturated fats and has a fair amount of polyunsaturated fats too, both the good type of fats. Since it has a high smoking point, it works well for deep frying chips and all.

I think it is always better to consume local products; hence we should avoid imported and fancy oils including much hyped olive oil or palm oil which is always imported. Rice bran oil and its blended oils like Saffola Active seem to be good enough. Going for it will also help our economy by avoiding imports. It is a win-win for Indian economy and health. Hence I was proud of my purchase!

- Rahul Tiwary