Reusing oil ups health risks: Study

A new study has found that reusing cooking oil until it is exhausted, which is a commonplace practice in Indian kitchens where frying food is routine, exposes millions to higher risk of heart disease and diabetes.

The quantity of trans fatty acids or “TFA” in food doubles on frying and dishes like dosas, parathas and puris typically contain 2.5 times the recommended level of these bad fats.

The study, which is based on the practices of over 400 women in Delhi, revealed that almost all of them, more precisely 95.8 per cent, reuse oil while cooking at home. Of these women, 45 per cent routinely let the oil smoke before using it to fry something, while more than half leave the used oil in the same utensil and reuse it to cook at high temperatures at a later time.

“Making food in oil and frying it is the Indian way of cooking a meal. The study shows how it increases the risk of developing diabetes and heart diseases,” said Anoop Misra, a former professor and head of the department of internal medicine at AIIMS.