Sesame oil is one of the most ancient, it is mentioned in the remaining written monuments of Ancient Egypt, it was used by the peoples who inhabited India and China, Japan and other countries of the East.
The oil extract of this plant was and is used by healers to treat a variety of diseases: the ancient Indian treatise “Ayurveda” mentions sesame oil as one of the most valuable components of a healthy person’s food. Women, both in ancient times and today, use the wealth of this natural product to preserve beauty and youth.
The second name for sesame is sesame. And under this name it was included not only in ancient medical manuscripts, but also in fairy tales. Everyone remembers from childhood how Ali Baba opened a cave full of treasures with the cherished words: “Sesame, open!” Everyone knows the fairy tale, but the true meaning of sesame was revealed to us not so long ago.
general description
Even the ancients noticed that sesame extract can be stored in clay vessels for about 9 years and not lose its taste and other qualities. For the hot southern climate, the shelf life of food is generally a very sensitive point, so products that have stood the test of time and survived the competition are worthy of close attention. By the way, the seeds from which the butter is extracted are stored for only one year, after which they become hopelessly rancid and become inedible.
Now a little about what sesame oil is from a scientific point of view. The chemical composition of the product is surrounded by legends and myths; some sources manage to find calcium and other macro- and microelements in it. In fact, there is nothing even close to that.
When considering sesame oil, its benefits and harms, and how to take it, first of all you need to understand that it is only fat. Vegetable, but this does not make it less caloric. There are no proteins, no minerals, even only one vitamin - E, and even that is not that much. And those who suggest replenishing calcium reserves with the help of this product simply do not see the difference between the squeezed seeds and finely ground seeds into a paste. The latter contains both proteins and carbohydrates. And the benefits of sesame oil for the body are due only to fatty acids and thereby vitamin E.
There are several types of oils, depending on the method of extraction and pre-treatment of sesame seeds. Cold-pressed sesame oil is the most valuable, it has a pronounced appetizing seed smell and a bright taste. It is used for daily oral administration and as a seasoning for cold dishes. Salad with sesame oil is a very high-calorie and at the same time vitamin-rich dish, and the oil squeeze promotes the best absorption of vitamins in the gastrointestinal tract.
If there is unrefined sesame oil, there must also be refined one. After cleaning, the raw material becomes significantly lighter, the smell becomes weaker, but it is still noticeable: it is a sweet nutty aroma.
There is also dark sesame oil, or black. It is extracted from roasted seeds, and it differs in taste from the light, so-called cheese-pressed one. It is believed that the dark extract has special properties and is the most healing.
There are many ways to use sesame oil: it is cooked with it, added to food and simply taken orally. External use – rubbing the skin for cosmetic purposes, lubricating wounds and burns, microtraumas. For medicinal purposes, it can be taken every day, but in strictly dosed quantities. The daily norm is calculated for each person individually, at the rate of 1 g per 1 kg of body weight. But it is not recommended to consume more than three tablespoons per day.
You cannot drink sesame oil and consume large amounts of fat at the same time: during such treatment, animal fats in the diet should be reduced to the required minimum.
The benefits of sesame oil in cosmetology
The main ability of sesame oil used in cosmetology is to protect the skin from ultraviolet radiation. You can protect yourself with oil while sunbathing by simply applying it to your skin. In cosmetic products, the constituent components of oils, vitamins, and fats work at full strength - they cleanse, moisturize, nourish and soften the skin, help reduce the depth of wrinkles, and when mixed with other ingredients, improve the condition of both dry and oily skin.
To improve nutrition for dry skin, mix cocoa powder with cold-pressed sesame oil in equal proportions. The mask is applied to a cleansed face 4 times a week for 15-20 minutes. For oily skin, prepare a cleansing gel from 2 tbsp. spoons of turmeric and sesame oil. The components are mixed into a homogeneous paste and applied to the face, neck, décolleté, while massaging the skin. In 10 minutes. The composition is washed off with warm water and then rinsed with cool water.
Beneficial features
It is even recognized by official medicine that sesame oil extract:
- accelerates metabolism and thereby slows down the aging process of cells;
- eliminates cholesterol plaques on the walls of blood vessels, increases their elasticity;
- helps normalize blood pressure;
- is an effective local anesthetic and warming (vasodilator) agent - oil is used for joints for rheumatic, arthritic and arthrosis pain;
- has a bactericidal effect: it is recommended to instill oil into the nose during a runny nose for those who are allergic to nasal drops and sprays;
- good for the liver, pancreas and intestines, improves the flow of bile;
- can be used as a laxative: sesame oil for constipation is taken in the morning, a teaspoon on an empty stomach, until the stool returns to normal.
For inflammatory processes in the oral cavity, it is recommended to rinse your mouth with a small amount of sesame oil extract. Sesame oil for thrombocytopenia (decreased platelet count) is indicated to increase blood viscosity.
You can use sesame oil during pregnancy, as it promotes a general improvement in the condition, accelerates the removal of waste and toxins, which prevents toxicosis in pregnant women.
In folk medicine, this remedy is taken to lower blood glucose levels. It helps with pulmonary diseases, such as acute respiratory infections of the upper respiratory tract, bronchitis, and pneumonia.
For toothache, sesame extract is applied to the gums near the painful tooth. This lubrication also helps with bleeding gums.
For women, this remedy is useful during menopause: it restores hormonal balance, eliminates hot flashes and sweating.
Women
In folk medicine, sesame oil is recommended as a nutritional supplement for menopausal women suffering from hot flashes and sweating, insomnia, heart problems and weakness caused by liver and kidney depletion.
Benefits for women also include relief of PMS symptoms, and the natural product is used for pain associated with menstruation.
How to use a natural remedy? For both men and women, it is recommended to take 1 tsp. 1-2 times a day.
Calorie content
Sesame oil is very high in calories: 884 kcal per 100 grams. This must be taken into account, because often in the pursuit of benefits, many forget about a sense of proportion. One spoon per day is enough, which must be divided into two parts - one taken orally, the other added to food. The amount of other animal and vegetable fats taken should be reduced.
Is sesame oil good for weight loss?
Overeating is often the cause of a nervous breakdown. Sesame oil has a very beneficial quality: it balances nervous processes and helps avoid stress.
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Having a high calorie content, it allows you to maintain a feeling of fullness for a long time. If the cause of excess weight is hormonal levels, then sesame will help bring it in order, speed up metabolism and the breakdown of fatty tissue. The property of the oily culture to cause a laxative effect will allow you to cleanse the body of excess moisture and toxins.
Contraindications
Sesame oil is not equally beneficial for everyone. Contraindications relate primarily to:
- people with increased blood clotting;
- with thrombophlebitis;
- allergy sufferers.
The latter also include those who have an individual intolerance to sesame. Sesame oil is not recommended for varicose veins.
The harm of sesame oil to the body often depends on the quantities in which it is consumed and what types of food preparation it is used for. It is best not to heat this product, because when exposed to heat, especially for a long time, it loses all its benefits and becomes carcinogenic.
The benefits and harms of black sesame oil depend on how and in what quantity you take it. If diarrhea and skin rashes begin, you need to definitely reduce the daily dose, or it is better to take a break from this product altogether for a while.
Pregnant, lactating women and children
In accordance with the rules of a healthy lifestyle and the advice of traditional medicine, sesame oil is a good nutritional supplement for pregnant women. In addition to being rich in vitamins, it also contains lecithin, which has a beneficial effect on the nervous system of the developing fetus, has positive effects on metabolic function and strengthens the body, which suffers from frequent fatigue during this period.
Thanks to its calcium content, it benefits bones, cartilage and teeth. All these factors are extremely important for expectant mothers.
Similar beneficial properties play a role during breastfeeding, providing important substances to the body of mother and baby.
But, pay attention to how to take a natural remedy during pregnancy and breastfeeding: the recommended amount is 1 tsp. no more than once a day.
Sesame oil is also useful for children. Methods and recommendations on how to use it are provided by the manufacturer on the packaging. If such information is not available, children 3 years of age and older may take the adult dose orally. This is an easily digestible source of vitamin E.
Use in cooking
Sesame oil is as essential in Asian cooking as sunflower oil is in our native cuisine. It is used for deep-frying and savory snacks, added to sweets and marinades for vegetables, and used to cook meat and fish. A real oriental salad is seasoned with a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil and honey. The list of dishes where this product is added in the East is endless.
The so-called warm salads with sesame squeeze are very useful. To make an assorted vegetable salad, you need to take 200 g of eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, young carrots, sweet peppers, and bake them on the grill or in the oven. The finished vegetables are peeled, if necessary, cut into circles and placed in a large dish. Top with spicy dressing.
How to make sesame oil for salad dressing: finely chop a clove of garlic and a little sweet salad onion, mix with 2 tbsp. l. sesame extract, add a small pod of red hot pepper cut into rings, and a little fresh cilantro. All this is mixed and seasoned in vegetable, meat and fish salads and other dishes. If you add soy sauce to the dressing, you don’t need to salt it afterwards.
What to replace sesame oil with - everyone chooses for themselves. It is best to take nut extract (walnuts and others), it has a similar taste. For those who find the smell and taste of sesame extract too intense, chefs recommend making mixtures: adding other oil extracts. Peanuts “sound” most harmoniously; they complement the nutty aroma of sesame, but are milder in taste.
The question of which oil is healthier, flaxseed or sesame, cannot be answered unambiguously. Objectively, the difference between them is that flaxseed has more beneficial properties, but it is stored less and has significant contraindications. Even children can use sesame oil extract in small quantities.
Can you fry with sesame oil?
The natural, unrefined cold-pressed product does not tolerate heat treatment. Sesame oil, along with sunflower, corn, flaxseed, soybean, and rapeseed oil, contains up to 43% polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are little resistant to heat and can quickly oxidize, and then release free radicals harmful to the human body. This, in turn, leads to inflammation and the risk of cancer.
The smoke point of sesame oil, that is, the one at which the oil begins to break down, simply “smoke”, changing the chemical composition and forming carcinogens, is 177°C for an unrefined product, 210°C for a refined product.
Considering that you can fry in oil with a smoke point of 160°C or higher, you might think that the product is suitable for heat treatment. But at the same time, sesame seed squeeze contains a large amount of polyunsaturated fats, from which we can conclude that frying in such oil is not worth it. It is better to add it to ready-made, slightly chilled dishes or cold appetizers, salads and sauces.
How to replace sesame oil?
The natural product made from sesame grains has a rather specific taste and smell; replacing it in a recipe without anyone noticing will not work. However, if you have sesame seeds in the house, you can fry them in a frying pan, mix them with other vegetable oil and heat the mixture over a fire. Such a homemade product, of course, cannot be compared in composition and taste with natural ones, but it can serve as a worthy replacement.
What else can replace sesame oil? Healthy vegetable oils: peanut, perilla, olive, canola, grape seed, avocado and walnut.
What does it go with?
The flavor palette that forms the taste of sesame oil includes several notes: nutty, raw and roasted sesame seeds, sugar and spices. Such a complex product should be used especially carefully.
Traditionally it is combined with vegetables:
- sweet – pumpkin and corn;
- neutral – tomato and cucumber;
- with a pronounced taste - beets and eggplant.
A successful tandem of a healthy product made from sesame seeds can also be combined with:
- honey (in marinades and sauces);
- meat and fish;
- baked goods and sweet desserts (as a replacement for coconut and sunflower oils);
- pilaf;
- pizza;
- vegetable puree;
- cream soup;
- hummus;
- cereals.
What does sesame oil taste like?
The unrefined product made from roasted sesame seeds has a rather bright, sweet, nutty taste and an intense, easily recognizable aroma. The color is dark, dark brown, the application is cooking.
Healthy raw sesame oil is light, yellow, and is made from raw seeds. It has a rather weak odor and its taste is less pronounced. Application – cosmetology and traditional medicine.
Which oil is healthier – flaxseed or sesame?
These two products have similar properties:
- similar vitamin composition, both contain oleic, linoleic acids and phytosterols;
- they are useful for use in cases of decreased immunity, high cholesterol, excess weight, hypertension, constipation and cardiovascular diseases;
- Contraindicated for those with a tendency to diarrhea and allergies.
However, the squeeze of sesame seeds is a record holder for the content of calcium and antioxidants in its composition; it is best added to sauces, salads and baked goods. Flaxseed also contains a large amount of omega 3 fatty acids, which have anti-inflammatory properties and promote mental activity and good memory. It must not be heated.
Sesame or flaxseed oil: which is better?
- If you have a deficiency of omega 3, to cleanse the body, lose weight, for hypertension, to strengthen the nervous and immune systems, you should buy flaxseed.
- If allergic reactions, frequent bronchitis, hemophilia, low blood pressure, vitamin deficiency occur, then it is better to prefer sesame.
- If the task is to use oil every day for a long time, then flaxseed oil is better. Sesame contains a large number of polyunsaturated fats, which, if taken regularly, can negatively affect the body.
- But for culinary purposes, sesame oil with its nutty taste and pleasant aroma is a priority. Perfect for outdoor use as well.
- But flaxseed is a more economical option.
And finally, in order to replenish the body with vegetable fats, essential vitamins and microelements, normalize the condition of the heart and blood vessels, intestinal function, lower cholesterol, and improve metabolism, you can choose any of the oils. It's best to alternate them. By the way, you cannot fry food using any of these healthy products.
Use in cosmetology
Sesame oil for women is not only a culinary, but also a cosmetic raw material. It is added to masks and scrubs, homemade creams. This product promotes gentle exfoliation of dead particles of the epidermis, rejuvenating and moisturizing the skin.
It is also used for tanning: sesame extract serves as a kind of filter for solar ultraviolet radiation, so the tan is even, and the risk of getting a sunburn is reduced if you treat the skin with this product.
Massage masters often use sesame oil on the body - it is very useful for massages and body wraps. Sesame oil has also been used in hair care: for a nourishing mask, it is mixed with egg yolks, fermented milk products, a small amount of honey or cognac, depending on the oiliness or dryness of the hair.
What are the benefits of sesame oil?
The benefits of sesame oil for the human body have been known for a long time. Tocopherols limit the action of free radicals and prevent malignant neoplasms. Calcium and phosphorus inhibit the development of osteoporosis. The beneficial microelements contained in the substance help relax muscles, relieve tension and reduce pain.
Useful properties that have a beneficial effect on the body:
- removes toxins;
- restores skin after injuries without leaving scars;
- protects against damage caused by ultraviolet rays;
- cleanses blood vessels, maintains cardiac tone;
- reduces blood pressure;
- prolongs the life of red blood cells;
- breaks blood clots and prevents their formation;
- promotes the reproduction of myelin, a substance that is an insulator of nerve cells;
- smoothes out some manifestations of Alzheimer's disease;
- participates in collagen synthesis.
Benefits for women
The benefit of sesame oil for the female body is to enhance the activity of the sex glands. It rejuvenates the body. Taking part in the production of collagen, it smoothes the skin and reduces the number of wrinkles. Beneficial properties help normalize hormonal levels during menopause and reduce the symptoms of menopause.
Benefits for men
Tocopherol increases the secretion of male gonads, accelerates sperm maturation, and normalizes the activity of the prostate gland. Taking sesame will benefit people with decreased sexual activity, help restore normal erection and increase libido.
During pregnancy and breastfeeding
During pregnancy and breastfeeding, the female body is subject to exhaustion. The oily liquid obtained from sesame seeds allows you to restore the supply of vitamins and microelements. Sesame has a positive effect on lactation. This treatment will benefit your hair: dull, lifeless curls will acquire a vibrant shine. The beneficial properties of sesame will help make your nails elastic and less brittle. High benefits for the dermis: the skin becomes noticeably fresher.
Important! Sesame oil can cause allergies in the baby and mother. Before the appointment, you need to consult a specialist.
Is sesame oil okay for children?
Sesame oil is of great benefit to children with vitamin deficiencies: it promotes better absorption of vitamins obtained from food. It is useful for children from the age of one year to season vegetable salads. For children from 1 year to 3 years, the maximum daily dose of the product is 3-5 drops. From 3 to 6 years, the dosage gradually increases to 10 drops. By 14, the daily intake is increased to 1 teaspoon.
Attention! Sesame oil should be given to children only fresh. When heated, it loses its beneficial properties and there will be no benefit.
What is the price
The lower price level for this product is 120 rubles per 100 ml. This is the cheapest refined product, which may also turn out to be a fake. Real black sesame seed oil can cost from 400 rubles for a small bottle. They buy high-quality pomace in specialized departments of grocery stores; you should not buy it on the Internet.
The benefits and harms of sesame oil
The beneficial qualities of the vitamin composition of sesame oil are complemented by the presence of oleic (omega-9) monounsaturated acid in the oil in an amount normal for humans. But the oversaturation of omega-6 oil with acids and the possible occurrence of oxalates does not allow the oil to be used by people with kidney disease.
It is necessary to carefully season green vegetable salads, dishes with fresh beets and citrus fruits, which contain oxalic acid, a source of oxalates, with sesame oil.
Benefits of sesame oil for the body
Massage sesame oil warms a person’s cold body when rubbed into the chest, soles of the feet, and palms. They use oil heated to a warm state; after expectoration, you can give a short massage and put the person to sleep under a warm blanket. Place an additional pillow under your head to facilitate the removal of mucus. For anemia, traditional healers recommend taking sesame oil three times a day; to treat the eyes and restore damaged corneal tissue, sesame seed oil is used as eye drops.
All treatment procedures are carried out after consultation with doctors.
Contraindications
The use of sesame oil is not recommended for allergy sufferers with individual intolerance to sesame oil. Reviews from doctors suggest that people prone to the formation of kidney stones due to high physical activity and lack of drinking should not use sesame seed oil.
Chemical composition and calorie content
Experts have long considered sesame seed oil to be one of the products that have a powerful positive effect on human health. With its regular use, a number of diseases can be successfully treated; the powerful healing effect is due to the presence of a substance such as retinol in its composition. Other useful components contained in this oil also contribute to the elimination of ailments:
- a nicotinic acid;
- thiamine;
- riboflavin.
This remedy also contains other vitamins belonging to group B. Therefore, there can be no debate about its benefits.
Microelements in this oil are represented by calcium, iron and zinc. It also contains magnesium, copper and phosphorus. Sesame seed products contain a wide variety of organic fatty acids, including omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids.
Since the calorie content of this oil is quite high, and 100 g of the product contains 865 kcal, people who have set a goal to get rid of extra pounds should not consume it in large quantities. Regardless of how slim your body is, it is not recommended to take more than 3 tablespoons per day.
What are the types
There are several varieties of natural sesame seed oil, depending on the method of its preparation:
- cold and hot pressed product;
- refined and unrefined product.
Unrefined sesame oil is considered the most useful and less harmful to humans, suitable for food and cosmetic purposes. It is distinguished by its high nutrient content, transparency and a richer aroma than the refined one.
There are also two product grades based on color:
- Dark. Made from roasted sesame seeds. The most popular remedy in Asian regions. It is more concentrated than light, has a pronounced aroma and taste, but is less suitable for heat treatment. In our country, this variety is usually used only in combination with other oils, for example, vegetable, olive or soybean.
- Light. It is obtained from fresh dried seeds. It is one of the most popular types of oil in the Middle East and Mediterranean. The light variety can be subjected to long-term heat treatment, but it has a less pronounced and persistent taste and aroma than the dark variety.
Read the packaging carefully before purchasing the product. A quality product should not contain any other components other than the oil itself. The label must also indicate the manufacturer and its exact address, expiration date, production method, and storage conditions. There may also be information about the product’s compliance with quality requirements and various certificates.
