Blending of oil : Benefits and future projections

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is globally considered as the leading cause of death with 80% of CVD related deaths being reported from lower and middle income countries like India. According to WHO, 16.7 million people around the world die of CVD each year. By 2020 heart disease and stroke will become the leading cause of both death and disability worldwide, with number of fatalities projected to increase to more than 20 million a year and to more than 24 million a year by 2030. Dietary fat plays an important role in influencing blood lipid concentrations, thrombotic tendency and thus the onset of CVD. Several research studies have demonstrated the quality and properties of blended oils like sunflower and rice bran oil, sunflower and palm olein oil, soybean and palm olein oil, rice bran and mustard oil, coconut and groundnut oil, sesame and coconut oil has been improved after blending process. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has suggested desirable fat intake by providing 20 per cent energy in a normal diet which ensure 8-10 per cent energy from SFAs, and PUFAs each and 10-12 per cent energy from MUFAs (ICMR, 2010).This can be achieved by suitable blending of two or more different oils like groundnut oil, palm oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil etc, in specific proportion to get desired fatty acid composition. Thus blending of oil is a good way to obtain a stable and nutritionally good frying medium. It is a post harvest technology that if done carefully may fill up the demand and supply gap.