The Moment We All Pretend Doesn’t Matter
Let’s be honest.
Most of us have pushed oil too far at least once this week.
The pan’s screaming hot. The oil shimmers, smokes, smells a bit sharp.
You carry on cooking anyway.
We tell ourselves it just tastes funny.
We wipe the pan out.
We move on.
But this exact moment is where the real differences between cooking oils show up.
Not at the smoke point.
At what happens after.
Why Burnt Oil Is a Bigger Deal Than You Think
When oil is heated past its stability threshold, it doesn’t just lose flavour.
It chemically breaks down.
Multiple studies show that overheated oils form compounds called aldehydes, including acrolein and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE). These compounds are biologically active, irritating, and in high or repeated exposures, associated with oxidative stress and inflammation.
This isn’t wellness hype. It’s chemistry.
A landmark study published in Scientific Reports (Grootveld et al., 2015) analysed common cooking oils during frying and found that some oils produced up to 20 times more toxic aldehydes than others once overheated.
The difference wasn’t smoke point.
It was fat structure.
The Discomforting Part: Yes, Some Common Oils Are Worse
This is the part people don’t love hearing.
Oils high in polyunsaturated fats degrade faster under heat and produce more harmful breakdown products when pushed too far.
That includes many oils people cook with every day:
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sunflower oil
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soybean oil
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corn oil
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grapeseed oil
These oils aren’t evil.
They’re just chemically fragile under heat, especially when reused or overheated.
This is why burnt oil is not a neutral event. It’s a transformation.
What About Coconut Oil and Olive Oil?
Coconut oil often gets a free pass because it’s stable.
That’s true from a heat perspective. Its high saturated fat content makes it resistant to oxidation. But that same fat profile is why multiple reviews, including a 2020 meta-analysis in Circulation, show coconut oil raises LDL cholesterol more than unsaturated oils.
Extra virgin olive oil sits somewhere in the middle.
It contains antioxidants that protect it at moderate heat, but once those antioxidants are depleted and the oil is pushed too hard, it degrades more quickly than many people realise.
Neither oil is bad.
They just aren’t invincible.
So Where Does Macadamia Oil Actually Sit? Honestly.
This is where the conversation usually gets distorted.
Unrefined macadamia oil does not have the highest smoke point on paper.
And pretending otherwise would be dishonest.
But smoke point alone is not the question.
The real question is:
When oil overheats, how badly does it degrade?
Macadamia oil is naturally:
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very high in monounsaturated fats
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extremely low in omega-6 polyunsaturated fats
That fat structure matters.
Research published in Journal of Food Science and Molecular Nutrition & Food Research consistently shows that oils dominated by monounsaturated fats produce fewer toxic oxidation products than polyunsaturated-heavy oils when overheated.
In plain terms:
When things go wrong, macadamia oil tends to go wrong more gently.
That puts it above olive oil and well above common seed oils in terms of degradation behaviour.
A More Honest Ranking When Things Go Wrong
Based on degradation, not marketing:
Lower harm when overheated
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Macadamia oil
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Refined avocado oil
Moderate
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Extra virgin olive oil
Higher risk when overheated
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Sunflower oil
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Soybean oil
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Corn oil
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Grapeseed oil
This ranking reflects chemical stability, not lifestyle branding.
The Relief Most People Need
Here’s the part that matters.
Burnt oil does not mean you’ve poisoned yourself.
It does not mean one smoky dinner is dangerous.
Risk comes from frequency, reuse, and oil choice over time.
This is not about perfection.
It’s about not stacking the odds against yourself unnecessarily.
What This Means for Real Life Cooking
You don’t need to chase the highest smoke point oil on the shelf.
You need an oil that:
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behaves predictably at everyday cooking temperatures
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doesn’t explode into harmful compounds when pushed a little too far
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fits how you actually cook
That’s where unrefined macadamia oil makes sense.
Not because it never smokes.
But because when life happens, it’s more forgiving.
Add in a short supply chain, Australian growing conditions, and minimal processing, and it becomes a practical everyday choice rather than a headline grab.
The Takeaway
The danger isn’t that oil smokes.
The danger is repeatedly heating fragile oils that break down aggressively and pretending it doesn’t matter.
Choose oils that degrade gently.
Cook like a human, not a lab.
And don’t stress about the odd smoky pan.
That balance is where good cooking and good health actually meet.