There has been a lot of hype about grape seed oil over the past year. You can use this oil with pretty much anything that you use olive oil for, and it also boasts a slightly higher smoke point than olive oil. We ran out of extra virgin olive oil a few nights ago, so I decided to use the grape seed hidden in the cupboard instead. This led me down the rabbit hole in thinking about which is actually better for you, and if there is really a difference between them? Turns out, there is a rather large difference and a pretty obvious winner.

Grape seed oil is exactly what it's name describes... oil that is from a grape seed. This oil is collected through a hefty mechanical process that uses the grape seeds that the wine industry produces but discards. Until recently, this type of oil was not harvested since grape seeds have very little oil content and the process to get the small amounts of oil out is quite advanced.

The good thing about grape seed oil is that it is chalk full of vitamin E. Every tablespoon of grape seed oil has about 20% your daily recommended vitamin E. One of the greatest boasts for those is support of grape seed oil is that it has no cholesterol. That's right, grape seed oil does not even have the good kind of cholesterol.

Unfortunately, grape seed oil has extremely high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, specifically omega-6. Grape seed oil actually has more PUFA's than cotton seed oil, corn oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil. This form of PUFA is not the most stable and will easily incite oxidation (especially when cooked). Although one of the great health benefits of PUFA's is the anti-inflammatory effects, grape seed oil's intense industrial production gives it high amounts of free radicals, causing inflammation and damage to our bodies on the cellular level.

Yes, grape seed oil does have high levels of vitamin E, but compared to foods like spinach, it is still quite low. Grape seed oil may be a new fad, but the tried and true extra virgin olive oil is still the best choice.