Comment on "The evil of recycled cooking oil" (China Daily Website, Sept 20)

I read the article but did not understand how cooking oil can harm the human body.

The article cites studies to say that on average the daily fat intake of a Chinese is 85.5 grams, with most of it coming from cooking oil, although dieticians and doctors say that the average fat intake of a person should not be more than 65 grams.

It seems that the studies suggest that the oil in which food is cooked needs to be changed as soon as possible.

The article also says that people who are most vulnerable to excess or unhealthy cooking are children and senior citizens. I can understand that excess or unhealthy cooking oil could harm children because most of the food they eat - such as fast food nowadays contains a high amount of cooking oil.

But I do not think that cooking oil can cause big health problems for senior citizens. When I think of cooking oil, I think of fast food and other greasy food, and senior citizens do not tend to eat such food.

Matthew Sherlock, via e-mail

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(China Daily 09/29/2011 page9)