In the old days, oils were extracted using slow moving stone presses which did not damage the integrity of the original source. Naturally occurring vitamins were retained within the finished product, such as Vitamin E, and served to protect the body from the free radicals created when oil is exposed to light and oxygen.

But today’s mass produced oils are processed in large factories by crushing the seeds, then heating them to 230 degrees. The oil is then subjected to more heat when it is squeezed out at 10 to 20 tons of pressure per inch. And since money is the name of the game here, in order to extract every possible drop, the pulp is then treated with any number of toxic solvents, usually hexane. The solvent is boiled off, but up to 100 ppm (parts per million) may still remain in the oil. These high temperatures create dangerous free radicals within the finished product and kill off the naturally occurring vitamin E in the original fruit, nuts or seeds that would normally have helped protect the body from free radicals. And we haven’t even gotten into the residues that are coming off the metal containers used in the high heat process. So much for modern "healthy" oil!

Because olive and coconut are cold-pressed the free radical fighting vitamin E is preserved, making them the far healthier choice. Cold pressed oils are not subjected to any of the harmful manufacturing processes that vegetable oils are. For any type of cooking where the oil will be heated, coconut oil is better able to withstand high heat without transforming into damaging trans fat.