The fallacy of cholesterol-free vegetable-oil and the effects of fatty acid composition of vegetable versus fish oils on health and diseases

Abstract

Th is r e p o r t will first di scus s the pre senc e o f sterol in vege table oils and then r e v iew ba s ic
fe a tures ab o u t the fatty acid c ompos it ion o f dif ferent e dible oils o f plant and fish origin.
Ve g e ta b le oils n ame ly palm, olive, soy, corn and a wide va r ie ty o f o th e r se eds are o f plant
origin. O n the o the r hand, chole s terol is sy nthe s iz ed p re d omin an t ly in anima l t is sues, wh i le it
is n e a r ly a bsent and/or , if p re sent only in trace amo u n t s in plant tissues. T h u s ‘ch o le s te ro l - f re e
ve g e tab le o i l ’ d o e s not have scientific basis and it could be c o n s id e re d as a mi s le a d in g
in fo rma t io n for the c o n sume r s . An impor tant c omp o n e n t o f this re v iew is to d i s s emin a te
in fo rma t io n o n chole s terol and other sterols to he lp formula te guideline(s ) on edible oils, at
least, fo r the p o p u la t io n that des ires a good ma in ten a n c e o f health on the basis o f ava i lable
scientif ic evidenc e . T h is article also desc ribe s the c omp a ra t iv e effe c ts o f ve g e tab le vs. fish
oils on he a l th and di se ases with a special re fe renc e to the saturated and (po ly )u n sa tu ra te d fatty
acid c o n te n t s o f these edible oils. In addition, the eme rg e n c e o f structural mo dif ic a t ion o f
v e g e tab le oi ls wo u ld be discussed. Fina lly, some sugge s tions for the inges tion o f fats in te rms
o f e d ib le oils a re p ro p o se d on the basis o f epidemiologic a l and e x pe r imenta l evidence .