With population and economic development increasing worldwide, the public is increasingly concerned with the health benefits and nutritional properties of vegetable oils (VOs). In this review, the chemical composition and health-promoting benefits of 39 kinds of VOs were selected and summarized using Web of Science ^TM as the main bibliographic databases. The characteristic chemical compositions were analyzed from fatty acid composition, tocols, phytosterols, squalene, carotenoids, phenolics, and phospholipids. Health benefits including antioxidant activity, prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD), anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, anti-cancer, diabetes treatment, and kidney and liver protection were examined according to the key components in representative VOs. Every type of vegetable oil has shown its own unique chemical composition with significant variation in each key component and thereby illustrated their own specific advantages and health effects. Therefore, different types of VOs can be selected to meet individual needs accordingly. For example, to prevent CVD, more unsaturated fatty acids and phytosterols should be supplied by consuming pomegranate seed oil, flaxseed oil, or rice bran oil, while coconut oil or perilla seed oil have higher contents of total phenolics and might be better choices for diabetics. Several oils such as olive oil, corn oil, cress oil, and rice bran oil were recommended for their abundant nutritional ingredients, but the intake of only one type of vegetable oil might have drawbacks. This review increases the comprehensive understanding of the correlation between health effects and the characteristic composition of VOs, and provides future trends towards their utilization for the general public’s nutrition, balanced diet, and as a reference for disease prevention. Nevertheless, some VOs are in the early stages of research and lack enough reliable data and long-term or large consumption information of the effect on the human body, therefore further investigations will be needed for their health benefits.

Two sensitive and ratiometric fluorescent probes (probe I and probe II) were developed for the detection of fluoride ions. Probe I can detect fluoride ions quantitatively within a range of 0–6 μM and a detection limit of 73 nM, while probe II has a range of 0–40 μM and a detection limit of 138 nM. The test strips from probe I are quickly able to recognize F^– (5 min) inside of the F^– safety level in drinking water (1.0 mg/L, ∼5 μM) under 254 nm ultraviolet light, and the test strips from probe II quickly recognize F^– (12 min) in dangerously high F^– levels in water (4.0 mg/L, ∼21 μM) under 254 nm ultraviolet light. This combination of fluorescent paper sensors from probe I and probe II can be used as a simple and convenient tool to determine whether water is safe to drink or dangerous.