Angela Onwuzoo
Amid the biting economic hardship presently ravaging the country and the desperation for several households to adopt coping mechanisms, experts have cautioned against the practice of re-using cooking oil several times, citing health risks.
Presently, economic hardship is driving unhealthy lifestyles among Nigerians with many adopting extreme coping measures to survive, among which is the re-using of cooking oil.
Nigeria’s annual inflation rate climbed further to a near 28-year high of 29.9 per cent in January 2024, up from 28.9 per cent in December, and above market forecasts of 29.5 per cent.
With the rise in non-communicable diseases and sudden death, experts say Nigerians must prioritise healthy living despite the hardship.
Speaking exclusively with PUNCH Healthwise, the nutrition and heart specialists said used cooking oil contains trans fats, describing them as the worst type of fat to consume.
They stated that trans fats have no known health benefits and are a major contributor to cardiovascular diseases and stroke worldwide.
Already, they said the reuse of cooking oil by food vendors was adding to the burden of non-communicable diseases in the country, which they said had assumed a frightening dimension.
A Professor of Public Health Nutrition, Ignatius Onimawo told our correspondent that reusing vegetable oil or any cooking oil more than twice could predispose an individual to the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, hypertension, and stroke.
Professor Ignatius Onimawo
The don, who is a former Vice-Chancellor, of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, also said overheating vegetable oil converts it to trans fat, warning that trans fat is injurious to health.
The nutritionist warned that the build-up of fats around and inside the blood vessels could lead to hypertension.
“They (trans fatty acids) harden the arteries which are supposed to be flexible. So, when the plagues are there, that particular blood vessel becomes non-flexible.”
“And therefore, when it is not flexible, it can’t expand to accommodate
pressure and if that happens continuously, the blood pressure begins to increase and sometimes, that is the origin of high blood pressure.
“If this continues, you know that high blood pressure is a precursor to a lot of things that have to do with heart disease”, the nutritionist noted.
He called for increased awareness of the health risks of overheating vegetables and reusing them over and over again.
Onimawo emphasized that there should be increased awareness of the health risks of trans fat.
People, he said, should be health cautious, warning that developing high blood pressure comes with a lot of risks.
The nutritionist advised Nigerians to eat more fruits and vegetables.
He also urged the government to deploy health officers to inspect the food and operations of the food vendors to ensure that fried foods sold to the public are safe for consumption.
Similarly, a Consultant Cardiologist at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, Dr Ramon Moronkola, said many things can affect the heart ranging from hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, and some lifestyles.
The cardiologist said an unhealthy lifestyle has a long-term negative effect on the heart.
Moronkola noted the rate of cardiovascular diseases had increased in recent times due to unhealthy eating and unhealthy lifestyles.
The World Health Organisation says there is evidence that heating and frying oil at high temperatures leads to an increase in trans fat concentrations.
According to the WHO, trans fat increases the risk of heart disease and death from heart disease by 28 per cent.
“On average, the level of trans fat has been found to increase by 3.67 g/100g after heating, and by 3.57 g/100g after frying.
“Approximately 540,000 deaths each year can be attributed to the intake of industrially produced trans-fatty acids.
“High trans fat intake increases the risk of death from any cause by 34 per cent, coronary heart disease deaths by 28 per cent, and coronary heart disease by 21 per cent.
“This is likely due to the effect on lipid levels: trans fat increases LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels while lowering HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels. Trans fat has no known health benefits”, WHO said.
Researchers in a 2019 article published in PubMed Central journal titled, “Impact of consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils on the incidence of various cancers- A critical review”, said repeated heating of vegetable oils at high temperatures during cooking generates varieties of compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, some of which have been reported as carcinogenic.
According to them, repeatedly heated cooking oil nowadays is one of the most often consumed media for cooking and frying, and intake can cause various unhealthy adverse effects including various cancers.
“Repeatedly heated cooking oil consumption and inhalation of cooking fumes can pose a serious health hazard. Studies demonstrated that the health adverse effects of repeatedly heated cooking oils and their cooking fumes have been often attributed to their detrimental properties and ease of genotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic activities”, the researchers said.
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