There are positives as well as negatives to frying food.
The content of dietary fiber actually goes up when potatoes are fried. Frying takes place at high temperatures and thus over a shorter time than other forms of cooking. As a result, fewer vitamins are leached. Cooking oil contains nutritional value too such as vitamin E.
However, fried foods are typically calorie-dense and so can be fattening.
So what should you look for in frying oil?
The infographic above by Authority Diet looks at how to choose your cooking and frying oils as well as the seven healthiest oils to use.
Firstly due to oils being subjected to extreme heat, we need oils that would not oxidize easily. When oils oxidize, free radicals are released that causes oxidative stress in our bodies, which has been linked to a variety of diseases such as cancer, dementia and heart disease.
The key is to look for oils that resist oxidation the most. There are three types of fats – saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated. We should avoid polyunsaturated fats for cooking and frying as they are the most reactive.
Another important factor to look for is the smoke point, which is the temperature when oil begins to breaks down. The higher the smoke point, the better.
Score from the experts at Killer Infographics
Visual Communication - 80%
Design - 80%
Content/Script - 80%
Usability - 85%
81%
Final Grade
This infographic provides information on choosing the best cooking oil. The high heat stability intro is a good approach, as it helps establish why some oils might be better than others. This section could use a little copy trimming. Likewise, the saturated fat heart disease claim is abrupt and should have some sort of context and support. Each section itself is for the most part good, especially the 7 healthiest because of the data visualization. However, each section's style varies a bit. With more consistent illustrations and no straying from a color palate, this would be much stronger. Overall, we give this a B.
