Vegetable oil is the latest villainized food, but it can be a healthy part of your diet.

What Is Vegetable Oil?

Vegetable oil is an oil that is extracted from certain vegetables, like corn and soybeans.

a photo of vegetable oil in a bottle

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Seed oil is also considered vegetable oil.

Canola, soybean, corn and sunflower oils are all examples of vegetable oil.

These oils are liquid at room temperature, and many are typically mild in flavor.

Vegetable oils can be produced in different ways.

Refined oils are extracted from their original source using a chemical solvent.

Cold-pressed oils are produced by applying pressure to the plant to extract the oil.

Vegetable oil is a source of fat.

In some cases, vegetable oil consists of primarilypolyunsaturated fatty acids, or PUFAs.

Under the PUFA umbrella, there are omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.

Certain vegetable oils can be quite rich in omega-6 fatty acids, which is an important factor to note.

But more on that later.

Vegetable oils can also contain monounsaturated fats, which have also been linked toheart-health benefits.

That’s because the fats in the oil can oxidize when exposed to light or oxygen.

Typically, this happens when the oils are heated beyond their smoke point.

Once they’re eaten, the compounds may promote disease, the authors point out.

Hexane is used to extract the oil from the plant.

That all certainly sounds unsettling.

TheEuropean Unionhas suggested a a residue limit of no more than 1 milligram of hexane per kilogram of food.

It’s important to remember that how much oil you eat matters.