The ketogenic diet, characterized by its low-carb and high-fat approach, often leads individuals to seek clarity on which cooking oils align with its principles. While all oils are essentially pure fat and devoid of carbohydrates, their health implications and suitability for keto vary significantly. This article delves into the specifics of soybean oil within the context of a ketogenic diet, providing insights into its properties, potential drawbacks, and healthier alternatives.
Understanding Keto-Friendly Oils
On a ketogenic diet, where 70-80% of your daily energy comes from fat, the majority of your dietary fat should be from monounsaturated and saturated sources. The best cooking oils for the keto diet are olive, avocado, and coconut oil.
Soybean Oil: An Overview
Soybean oil is the most consumed vegetable oil in the United States because it’s a cheap, mass-produced oil that manufacturers can use in packaged, processed foods. Soybean oil is made by pressing the oil from soybeans, much like you’d make oils from any seed. According to the USDA, processed soybeans are the second largest source of vegetable oil - right behind palm oil - as well as the main source of protein for animal feed.
The Case Against Soybean Oil on Keto
Processing and Refining
They’re made from seeds that aren’t naturally high in fat, so they must undergo an industrial refining process to have their fat extracted. These oils are highly processed, unlike the more easily extracted oils from fatty foods like coconuts, avocado, and olives. Unfortunately, foods that go through more processing may be more harmful to your health, promoting weight gain and chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and even some cancers.
Omega-6 Fatty Acids and Inflammation
They’re high in polyunsaturated omega-6 fats, which may cause inflammation if they’re not balanced with enough omega-3 fats from foods like salmon and flaxseeds. Notably, the modern Western diet is too low in omega-3s and too high in omega-6s. Oils from soybeans, canola, peanut, and sunflower are all examples of high omega-6 fats that cause inflammation and cellular damage.
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Instability When Heated
Additionally, these oils are unstable and break down quickly when heated to release harmful, potentially cancer-causing compounds like acrylamide. High linoleic acid oils are bad news even when you consume them at room temperature. When you expose high-linoleic soybean oil to high temperatures, you generate oxidized lipids.
Potential Health Concerns
Chronic consumption of this oil might cause some severe health problems. For instance, gaining lots of fat is a sure sign of insulin dysfunction.
GMO Considerations
GMO soy is a whole other nightmare, and you should avoid it at all costs. It doesn’t matter if it’s GMO, organic, or even high oleic.
Practical Implications for the Keto Diet
While eating soybean oil does not actually affect your ketone levels, it might not make you feel ideal. It’s also heavily processed and doesn’t offer the nutrients of, say, olive oil or lard. Beyond an upset digestive system, eating a lot of soybean oil may cause you to accumulate more omega-6 fatty acids instead of the healthier omega-3 fatty acids. When this happens, you might find that you have higher inflammation in your body-though the jury is still out as to the extent to which omega-6s affect inflammation. Keep in mind, also, that mayo made with soybean oil will have more carbohydrates than other types. A tablespoon of this kind of mayo has roughly 2.4 grams of net carbs.
Optimal Omega-6 to Omega-3 Ratio
Remember the optimal O-6:O-3 ratio? Right, 1:1. High linoleic acid oils also throw your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio out of whack. Unfortunately, most Americans consume super high levels of omega-6s - more like a 1:12 or 1:25 ratio in favor of omega-6s.
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Healthier Alternatives for Keto Cooking
Olive Oil
Olive oil is made from the oil pressed from olives, which are naturally high in fat. It’s widely considered one of the healthiest oils available and possibly even one of the healthiest foods overall. Look for extra virgin olive oil, which is the oil that’s extracted from the olives on the first press. It’s generally the least processed and the highest in quality. Olive oil is pretty close to ideal in its fatty acid composition.
Avocado Oil
Avocado oil, which is made from pressed avocados, is another excellent oil choice. It has a rich, nutty flavor that complements sautéed and pan-fried foods, and its high smoke point of approximately 500°F (260°C) lets it create extra-crispy fried foods without burning them.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is a unique plant-based oil made from coconut flesh. It’s solid at room temperature because of its high saturated fat content, which is typically only seen in animal fats. If you want a flavorless coconut oil, look for one that’s labeled “refined.” Refined coconut oil also has a higher smoke point of 450°F (232°C).
Butter and Ghee
Butter is a solid fat made from dairy cream. While it’s not technically an oil, it’s used in cooking the same way that many oils are. Ghee is made by heating butter and removing the milk proteins that accumulate during the heating process. The result is a flavorful clarified butter that solidifies at room temperature. Ghee doesn’t burn as easily as butter, so it’s more suitable for high heat cooking.
Animal Fats
Animal fats aren’t technically oils but rather solid fats at room temperature. Still, they’re suitable for keto cooking. They can impart a unique, meaty flavor to dishes, and they’re fairly stable when heated, making them great for high heat cooking, roasting, and frying. Some examples of animal fats include bacon grease, lard (pig fat), tallow (beef fat), and duck fat.
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MCT Oil
MCT oil is known as a ketosis-boosting oil because it contains a type of saturated fat that helps promote ketone production: medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). When buying one, it is best to look for a product that consists of only caprylic acid (C8) and capric acid (C10). This combination has been found to increase ketone levels substantially more than coconut oil.
Choosing Cooking Oils: A Practical Guide
Look for Oils Made from Naturally Fatty Foods
The more fatty a food naturally is, the less processing that’s required to extract oil from it. That’s why you should favor oils made from naturally high fat foods like avocados, olives, and coconuts. On the other hand, vegetable oils made from foods that aren’t naturally high in fat - like corn and soybeans - require extensive industrial processing to be produced.
Check the Label
Check the label to ensure it’s not an oil blend. Avocado or olive oil products that are significantly less expensive than similar products may be blends - meaning that they’re cut with a less expensive oil (usually one of the industrial seed oils listed above). Check the ingredient list to be sure your cooking oil of choice doesn’t contain any low quality types of oil.
Avoid Margarines and Plant-Based Spreads
While they’re widely used, most margarine, vegetable shortening, and vegan spreads are highly processed and made from industrial seed oils. Butter and coconut oil are great alternatives for baking and other cooking methods in which you want a fat that’s solid at room temperature.
Consider High-Oleic Options
With a similar fatty acid profile to that of olive oil, these two high-oleic oils are also great options for keto.
Incorporating Healthy Fats into Your Keto Diet
For optimal health and fat loss, most of your fat intake on keto should be coming from high-fat, minimally processed foods such as fatty cuts of meat, fish, eggs, full-fat cheese, nuts, seeds, and avocado. For most people, this means consuming no more than three or four tablespoons of pure fat/oil per day.
Condiments and the Keto Diet: The Case of Mayo
When it comes to dipping sauces and sandwich toppings, your options are limited on the keto diet. Many of the most popular condiments have added sugar to make them taste the way you are used to, but not all sauces are off limits. You may still be able to have mayo, and it could even be a great choice for your diet-in moderation, of course.
Choosing the Right Mayo
The important thing to note here is that the best mayo for a keto diet is ideally one that is not made from soybean oil. It may make your condiments more expensive to stay away from soybean oil and it may be a bit harder to find a non-soybean mayo product, but you will be glad to keep this ingredient out of your diet.
Making Your Own Mayo
If you want to stay keto and still enjoy a delicious burger or chicken salad, then making your own mayo at home is one way to ensure that you avoid low-quality oils that could trigger an inflammatory response in the body. Mayo should be made with olive or avocado oils for a healthy option that is low in carbs, has no added sugars, and does not use processed seed or soybean oils.