Refined Oils: Separating Fear from Facts (with Real Numbers You Can Trust)

Over the past year, I’ve noticed an alarming trend on social media: refined oils being vilified, often with dramatic claims like “They’re poison!” or “Industrial oils destroy your health.”

As a student of nutrition and food science, here is something I have to share to move beyond fear-mongering and examine the actual data, because for millions of Indian households, refined oils remain a vital and affordable source of dietary fat.

How Much Fat Do We Really Need?

• Fat is not the villain. It’s an essential macronutrient.

• While the RDA does not fix rigid “gram targets” for fat, global and Indian guidelines recommend keeping total fat intake between 25-30% of daily calories.

• For the average Indian adult on a 2,000 kcal/day diet, that works out to about 500-600 calories from fat.

• Since fat provides 9 kcal per gram, this equals 55-65 grams of fat per day.

• Of this, about 25-30 grams (6-7 teaspoons of visible oil/ghee/butter) should come from added fats, while the rest automatically comes from natural foods like pulses, milk, nuts, seeds, and meats.

This means you don’t need to fear oil itself; you just need to respect the limits.

What Exactly Are Refined Oils?

Think of crude seed oil as unwashed rice: raw, with impurities, odours, and unstable compounds.

Refining is simply the cleaning and stabilising process that removes impurities, improves shelf-life, and creates a neutral-tasting oil that doesn’t overpower your food.

Key benefits of refined oils:

• Heat stable: they don’t break down easily during cooking.

• Neutral in taste: perfect for curries, stir-fries, and frying.

• Safer profile: lower in saturated fat compared to ghee/butter.

• Fortified: In India, most branded oils are enriched with Vitamins A & D under FSSAI regulations.

Refined oils aren’t unregulated. The FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) enforces strict checks:

• Acid value, peroxide value, and contaminants are tightly controlled.

• Trans fats are capped at 2% maximum.

• Every branded oil must display its FSSAI license number as proof of testing.

If you’re buying sealed, branded oil,  it’s safe. Period.

The Hexane Myth: Busted

One of the loudest myths is: “Refined oils are full of dangerous chemicals like hexane.”

Here’s the science:

• Food-grade hexane is sometimes used during oil extraction.

• Residual levels in the final oil? <5 parts per million.

• To visualize: that’s about one teaspoon in an Olympic-sized swimming pool!

• In fact, you probably inhale more hexane standing at a petrol pump than consuming it in a day’s worth of refined oil.

So no, your oil bottle isn’t “toxic.”

Where the Real Problem Lies

The issue is not the refining process; it’s how we use oil at home.

1. Overconsumption: Indians often exceed the safe 6-7 teaspoons/day, especially when deep-fried foods are frequent.

2. Oil imbalance: Relying only on one oil (e.g., sunflower or soybean, both high in omega-6) can skew your omega-6:omega-3 ratio toward inflammation.

• Solution: Rotate oils. Pair sunflower with mustard, groundnut, or rice bran oil.

• Add omega-3 sources daily: 2 tsp roasted flaxseed powder in flour or chutney, a handful of walnuts, or two servings of fatty fish per week.

3. Reusing fried oil excessively:

• Each time oil is reheated, it accumulates Total Polar Compounds (TPCs),  essentially “stale waste” of oxidized fat molecules and aldehydes.

• At 25% TPC, oil turns harmful, linked to oxidative stress and inflammation.

• Signs at home: oil turns dark, foamy, smells rancid, or smokes too soon → time to discard.

(Did you know? Restaurants in India are legally required to monitor TPC with a meter! At home, we must rely on sensory cues.)

Bottom Line 

Refined oils are not poison, not toxic, and not your enemy,  when consumed wisely.

• Safe: If made under FSSAI standards.

• Essential: Contribute to your daily calories.

• Affordable: Fill the fat gap for Indian households.

• Risky only if: You exceed 6- 7 tsp/day, stick to only one oil without balancing omega-3, or keep reusing fried oil endlessly.

The golden rule? Balance. Variety. Moderation.

That simple trio is the recipe for healthy Indian cooking, not fear-based oil shaming.