Phil Lempert's Sunflower Oil 101

Frito-Lay is making sunflower oil famous, they are one of the few companies that decided in the move away from Trans fats to use sunflower rather than returning to palm oil. It is important to note that Trans fats were originally developed to replace palm oil which in the early 1970s came under criticism as promoting heart disease;although the producers argue that palm oil contains large quantities of oleic acid, the healthful fatty acid also found in olive and canola oil.

Sunflower oil is actually one of the most interesting of the fats. There are different varieties – but the one Frito-Lay uses in their Lay's potato chips is 90 percent mono and polyunsaturated and has zero grams of Trans fats

Sunflower oil is available from both domestic and imported producers, and in both organic and non-organic varieties, but buying sunflower oil can be confusing as there are three different varieties.

Linoleic is the "original"sunflower oil, it contains both polyunsaturated (65%) and monounsaturated fats (21%), and saturated fats (11%), omega-6, one of the two essential fatty acids not produced by the body, and more Vitamin E than other vegetable oils. Linoleic sunflower oil can also be found in shortenings and margarines.

Mid-Oleic (sold under the brand NuSun®): This oil has been on the market since 1997;developed with the cooperation of growers and the government to change its basic fatty acid structure to meet the demands for lower trans fats;the result is an oil that is 10% lower in saturated fats than standard linoleic sunflower oil. This sunflower crop now represents more than half of the planted acres. The unusual quality of this oil is that it requires no hydrogenation and so is naturally trans fat-free.

High Oleic: This is high in monounsaturated fats (77%) and is a patented type of sunflower oil more commonly used in commercial arenas for nondairy creamers, coating of cereal, crackers and dried fruits, and in commercial bakery production