Comparison between different oils and what to look on the labels and ingredients, including butter, margarine, spray oil and vegetable oils

Here is a quick comparison between different kind of oils and what to check on the labels before buying 

What to check on the labels:

Mainly are two things:

- The nutritional values

• Trying to prefer oils rich in Polyunsaturated fats and at the same time
• Avoid or reducing the amount of saturated and trans fats 

To note that any fat/oil from a plant is naturally without cholesterol

Which means that is present in any animal fat including butter or ghee for example

- Checking the ingredients is important too!

Sometimes there are more ingredients than expected and often could reduce the quality

For example when buying Extra Virgin Olive oil:

Often there is a percentage of different kind of qualities of olives to obtain a cheaper version so to not get tricked is important to check the percentages and in this case " you get what you pay for" applies almost always.

Just consider that you may pay a little bit more to get a better quality of a product that is lasting for a while as we don't finish a bottle of oil as quick as milk or egg right ?

Now let's compare the different Nutritional values:

As a recap before we start keep in mind the the lower are the saturated fat the better 

And if you are looking to reduce your caloric intake you can keep an eye on that too

For each of this following oil/fat the amount

is calculated on 1 Tablespoon (around 15 gr)

-  Ghee

Calories: 120 

Total fat: 14 gr

Which Saturated: 10 gr

- Butter

Calories: 102

Total fat: 10.5 gr

Which Saturated: 6 gr

Both of these 2 options contain cholesterol, usually Ghee is almost lactose free and easier to digest compared to butter which contains lactose 

- Extra Virgil Olive oil

Calories: 120

Total fat: 14

Which Saturated: 2

In this case it seems the calories are similar but actually the quality is totally different as you can notice the main difference in the saturated fat, 3 to 5 time lower than the animal fats and higher in polyunsaturated fat 

- Coconut Oil

Calories: 117

Total fat:  13.6 gr

Which Saturated: 11.8 gr

The calories are very similar but the amount of saturated fat are way higher compared to any other vegetable oil

- Safflower Oil

Calories: 120

Total fat: 14 gr

Which Saturated: 0.8 gr

Not the easiest to find but it seems to be the lowest in saturated fat

- Vegetable Oil

Calories: 124

Total fat: 14 gr

Which Saturated: 2gr

In this case is an average amount of calories and fats but is very important to check the labels of the brand if you are choosing to have this, one because there are various mixture that can be called as vegetable oils and sometimes a percentage of palm or cotton oil is added to this which is increasing the saturated fat so if is above the 2gr per tablespoon you can easily spot this and try a different brand

- Olive oil Spray ( 5 spray can replace a tablespoon)

Calories: 5 

Total fat: 0.5 gr

Which Saturated: 0.02 gr

This is the lowest in calories option but really depends on the recipes but even if you manage to use this as alternative when possible during the month the amount of calories as you can tell will drop drastically.

To note that there are different brands and some of them use alcohol in the ingredients

Final consideration: 

Thinking about the fact that 5 Tablespoon could be an average daily intake, we need to consider your personal targets, if you are looking to just reduce your caloric intake since one tbs is more than 100 calories, or are you trying to reduce your cholesterol and saturated fats so in that case looking more for the quality instead of just the calories