Canola Oil
Tuesday May 20, 2008
Some people still spread rumors about canola oil, telling you that it is poisonous because canola plants were developed from rapeseed plants. Rapeseed oil is high in erucic acid, a chemical that can become toxic in large enough amounts. The truth is that canola plants have been bred to produce very little erucic acid and canola oil is one of the healthiest oils you can use. It is a light-tasting oil that is perfect for cooking and in dressings. Read why you should use canola oil in your kitchen.
Poll:What is your favorite cooking oil?
Photo © Brad Harrison
Comments
About Canola oil. Maybe some are saying that Canola is downright poisonous. I haven’t heard that exactly. What I do know is that Canola oil, like all other refined oils is definitely a bad oil choice simply because of the affects of heat and other ways of processing that often include chemical extraction. Canola is a super mass-produced product that is almost always genetically modified (as are soy, safflower and other oils) giving us another great reason to avoid it. What, really do we need those refined oils for?!! I think the answer is in the wallets of the manufacturers. Butter works great. Olive oil works great! I FIRMLY believe that all those bottles of oil on the grocer’s shelves have been put there by big food corporations for BIG profit. Do I trust these organizations with my health? You can bet not because they aren’t interested. And, why are we so OK with ingesting things like “a little erucic acid”? Sorry if I sound a bit cynical–I’m just overwhelmed with peoples lack of knowledge about what is REALLY good to eat. I thank the advertisers of refined foods for that lack. When people ask me for health advice related to food, in order to keep a very complex issue simple, I always start with, “If it comes in a package, can, or bottle avoid it if at all possible”!
Please respond. I would love to talk more on the subject.
thanks for reading my soapbox.
AW
Olive oil is a terrific oil. However, there are several studies that show canola oil is safe and healthy to use. The balance of omega-3 and omega-6 oil is terrific.
The human body digests erucic acid, it just isn’t the preferred form of fat. Rapeseed oil, the grandfather of canola, has about 40% of its fat as erucic acid. Canola has about 1% of its fat as erucic acid. Very safe.
As an aside, there is a movie called “Lorenzo’s Oil” about a child with adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare disease. The movie portrays the struggle that a boy named Lorenzo and his parents had with his disease. Lorenzo’s Oil is a mixture of oils that were used to treat Lorenzo and one of those oils was erucic acid.
Almost all the food we eat is genetically modified, through selective breeding. This breeding, starting centuries ago, increases yield and improves disease resistance, etc, when it works.
-Steve Parker, M.D.
I enjoy using a wide variety of oils. I honestly don’t use one oil more than another. I love coconut oil for sauteeing fish and poultry. I love red palm oil for sauteeing veggies. But I will use bacon grease, butter or duck fat for veggies too. Eggs are great with those three also.
I use pure olive oil when I want to use the lower smoke point oils (butter, sesame etc.) at the end of the saute. I use virgin olive oil for salads but my favorit salad oil is a mix of macadamia, red palm and coconut. I also enjoy walnut oil for salads.
Fats and oils are the best way to add variety to vegetables. I eat a lot of vegetables and without that variety, it would be really boring!
I never use trans fats, canola oil or any of the highly refined grain/nut oils (corn, soy, safflower, sunflower). I stick with traditional fats and oils that the human body has thrived with over thousands of years.