Fats play an essential role in your health. Incorporating healthy fats into meals and snacks can improve nutrient absorption, promote heart health, and help boost your food's flavor and satiety factor. 

However, choosing the right kinds of fats, including cooking oils, is critical. While some oils are more appropriate for higher-heat cooking and may also provide health benefits, others may harm health if used too often.

Here are the best and worst cooking oils for your health, and tips for choosing the best oils for your needs and preferences.

The Best Cooking Oils for Health

If you’re looking for healthy cooking oils, these healthy fats make excellent choices. Not only are they appropriate for everyday cooking, but they’ve been shown to offer a health benefits, including lowering heart disease risk and providing protective antioxidants. 

Olive Oil

Olive oil is made by crushing, milling, and pitting olives to obtain their oil. It’s rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, vitamin E, and polyphenol antioxidants, which promote health in several ways.1

Studies show that diets high in olive oil are associated with numerous benefits, such as a reduced risk of common health conditions like heart disease.2

Olive oil-rich diets have been shown to protect against the development of atherosclerosis, which is considered the main cause of heart disease. A diet high in olive oil may also protect against and reduce other heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure and high blood lipid levels, thus lowering your risk of heart disease.3

Virgin olive oils, including extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), are considered the highest in quality, as they're unrefined and more concentrated in protective compounds, such as vitamin E and polyphenols, compared to refined olive oil.

Avocado Oil

Avocado oil is another heart-healthy fat that makes an excellent choice for cooking. Avocado oil is made by extracting oil from the fruit of ripe avocados. Like olive oil, the majority of the fat found in avocado oil is in the monounsaturated form, which is linked to heart health benefits such as supporting healthy blood lipid levels.

Avocado oil is rich in vitamin E, as well as plant compounds like polyphenols, proanthocyanidins, and carotenoids, all of which function as powerful antioxidants, helping to protect cells against oxidative damage.

Sesame Oil

If you’re looking for a flavorful oil that’s suitable for moderate-heat cooking, give sesame oil a try. Sesame oil is derived from toasted or raw sesame seeds, which are tiny seeds that are packed with vitamins, minerals, healthy fats, and plant-based protein.

The oil derived from sesame seeds is a good source of healthy fats, including monounsaturated fats, as well as antioxidants such as sesamin and sesamolin, all of which contribute to sesame oil’s health benefits.

Cooking Oils to Limit or Avoid

Although your diet as a whole is what matters most when it comes to overall health and disease prevention, it’s recommended to prioritize healthier fats, such as the oils listed above, while minimizing your intake of less healthy oils and foods made with them.

Highly Refined Vegetable Oils

Highly refined oils like canola oil, corn oil, and soybean oil go through a refining process in order to extend their shelf life and give them a more neutral color and taste. This process, which includes bleaching and deodorizing, strips the oil of beneficial compounds like polyphenol antioxidants and vitamin E. 

What’s more, some vegetable oils, such as corn oil and soybean oil, are higher in polyunsaturated fats, which are prone to a process called oxidation when exposed to very high temperatures.

Oils with a Low Smoke Point 

In addition to choosing healthier fats to cook with, it’s important to avoid using oils that aren’t meant for cooking, like flax oil. Some oils have a low smoke point, meaning they shouldn't be heated. Delicate fats, such as flax oil, are best used as finishing oils and in dishes like salad dressings, as they have low smoke points.

Other examples of oils with a low smoke point include fish oils, walnut oil, and pumpkin seed oil. Exposing these oils to high temperatures damages the oil and generates harmful compounds that can negatively impact health.