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VEGETABLE oil has joined the growing list of popular foods that scientists claim are linked to cancer.

Doctors have been telling shoppers for years that it’s healthier to cook with corn or sunflower oil than butter or lard.

But now Professor Martin Grootveld of De Montfort University in Leicester is warning that when vegetable oil is heated up, large amounts of harmful chemicals called aldehydes are released.

Aldehydes have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and dementia.

Grootveld says his tests revealed that fish and chips fried in vegetable oil contained up to 200 times more aldehydes than the safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation.

He is calling for a change in official NHS advice , which is to replace “foods high in saturated fat with lower-fat versions”.

Grootveld’s claims follow last month’s bombshell report from the World Health Organisation which said eating processed meat causes bowel cancer. Meat producers slammed the findings.