The generic term "Vegetable Oil" when used to label a Cooking Oil product refers to a variety of Oils extracted from Olive, Canola, Sunflower, Soy, Corn, Nuts, Seeds, etc.

Categories normally found in Vegetable Oil” are Hydrogenated Edible Oil, Hot Pressed Edible Oils, Refined Edible Oil & Cold Pressed Edible Oil.

But, then, what is the difference between these aforesaid Categories of Oil ?

Hydrogenated Oil is made by forcing Hydrogen Gas into Oil at high pressure. Food companies began using Hydrogenated Oil to help increase shelf life and save costs. During the Hydrogenation process liquid unsaturated fat is turned into a solid fat by adding hydrogen. During this manufactured partially hydrogenated processing, a type of fat called Trans Fat is made, which raises LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, lowers HDL (“good”) cholesterol and has other harmful effects, obviously making it not so fit for consumption.

Hot Pressing involves extracting Oil at high temperatures, and because the acid value rises significantly, it loses most of its natural quality. Therefore Hot Pressed Oils are Refined to make them fit for consumption

Basically, Refined Edible Oil, as the name suggests, is all about filtration of oil through various Chemicals and Heat that makes the final output very light and shiny in texture. Further, Refining Process includes degumming, neutralization, bleaching & deodorization, which makes the oil devoid of its natural color, taste & aroma. The Mechanical Process makes the oilseeds lose majority of its Nutrients that the human body needs on a daily basis. They are only rich in “Bad” Saturated Fat which is not good for Health and is devoid of Nutrition completely. As such, Refined Oil has low-quality constituents, whose contamination cannot be checked with naked eyes, resulting in cheaper prices, on the cost of affecting your health.

Whereas, the process of extracting oil, without heat, through Cold-pressed Method is basic and mechanical. It is similar to the way we extract juice from a manual juicer. No wonder, most of its Nutrition, Natural Physiological & Chemical Properties, “Good” Unsaturated fats [Monounsaturated & Polyunsaturated fats]  and, most importantly, its Original Taste is retained. Cold Pressed Oil is most expensive solely because of its stupendous health endowments, flavour and richness.

When we had started believing that Refined Oils are the best medium for cooking and that they are cheaper in prices, and, keep us safe from Heart disease & Obesity, Scientists turned the tables again by a New Research which says, Cold Pressed Oils are what we must be consuming and not the Refined Ones.

It is important that the Oil we are using in our diet is nutritious, but, the Refined Oil we buy after watching advertisements on TV promising losing of weight with labels like Losorb, Refined, Blanched, Lite, which means that they have been highly processed through extreme heat and are gone through the rigmarole of chemicals & processing and seldom have any nutrients in them. What is the point in adding such oils in our diet which have nothing but empty calories to offer us coupled with harmful effects. Now, let us see the benefits which explain why Cold Pressed Oil is way better than Refined Oil.