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The truth about canola oil

This blog post is a guest post written by inCYST Network member Christine Marquette, RD, LD, CLT, HFS. Chris is especially well-informed about healthy eating for vegetarians with PCOS.

Chris has just finished writing three great e-books about PCOS: (1) The Quick Start Guide to PCOS, (2) The Nutrition Guide to PCOS, and (3) The Supplement Guide to PCOS, which you can get for a 20% discount with the code INCYST20 at checkout.

Chris' private practice is located in Austin, TX. If you're farther away, you can keep up with her at her blog and on Twitter, at @ChrisMarquette, and on her Facebook fan page.

The Truth About Canola Oil

By Christine E. Marquette

Have you read somewhere on the internet, or better yet, gotten an email from a friend, that says canola oil is not healthy, and worse, is down right dangerous? I’ve gotten these emails myself, and have seen some of the websites disparaging canola oil. In an effort to set the record straight, I first looked up the nutritional profile of canola oil on the USDA’s Nutrient Data Library, and compared it to Olive Oil. Keep in mind that virtually every website that provides nutrient analysis information gets their data from this website.

What I found was that canola oil contains about 1 gram (g) of saturated fat, 8.86 g of monounsaturated fat, and 3.94 total grams of polyunsaturated fat per tablespoon.1 The polyunsaturated fat includes 1.28 g of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA omega 3) and 2.6 g of omega 6 fatty acids. Olive oil contains 1.86 g of saturated fat, 9.85 g of monounsaturated fat, and 1.42 total g of polyunsaturated fat per tablespoon.1 The total polyunsaturated fat includes 1.32 g of linoleic fat and 0.103 g of linolenic fat; it does not contain any ALA omega 3 fatty acids (or EPA or DHA omega 3). As you can see, canola oil actually has more omega 3 fatty acids in the form of alpha-linolenic acid than olive oil. This is one positive regarding canola oil.

But a lot of the fear mongers will say that even if this is true, canola oil has high levels of erucic acid, which is dangerous. Originally canola oil did come from the rapeseed plant, which is a member of the mustard family, and did have high levels of erucic acid, but newer “breeds” of rapeseed plant used to make canola oil now have very low levels of erucic acid.2 I did not find any studies showing that the level of erucic acid in canola today causes any health problems.

Others will go on to say that even if the erucic acids are low, it is still bad for you because the polyunsaturated fats in it are unstable and can become inflammatory. If canola oil was truly inflammatory, the various clinical studies on canola oil would have shown it. Instead, there have been several studies in humans showing canola oil “produces hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, and antithrombotic effects,” which means it is indeed heart healthy. 3, 4

I did not find a single scientific study that showed any detrimental effects on humans from conventional canola oil. It is true that 80% of canola oil in North American is genetically modified to make it resistant to herbicides, which has not had an effect on its fatty acid profile. 5 There have also been some websites claiming that it has been banned in Europe. I have not found this to be the case either. It is true that in Europe there is a ban on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), so canola oil produced there comes from non-GMO rapeseed plants and is called “oil seed rape” rather than canola oil, but as far as its nutrient profile (percentage of omega 3s, monounsaturated fats, etc.) it is the same as conventional canola oil produced in North America.6

I can understand the fear in using GMOs, as some studies have shown certain foods that have undergone this process have gone on to cause problems in rats. The exact effect in humans is still under investigation. To allay that fear, I would suggest sticking with organic, non-GMO canola oil. Also make sure that no matter what type of oil you choose, if it is unrefined, avoid cooking at temperatures higher than about 355 F as high heat can cause chemicals to be released from unrefined oils that may increase the risk of cancer.7,8

1 USDA Agricultural Research Service Nutrient Data Laboratory/USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference; accessed online June 16, 2011 at http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

2 Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease. Accessed online June 15, 2011 at http://dictionary.infoplease.com/canola

3 Indu M and Ghafoorunissa. N-3 Fatty acids in Indian Diets – Comparison of the effects of precursor (alpha-linolenic acid) Vs product (long chaing n-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids). Nutrition Research, Vol 12 Issues 4-5 April-May 1992, pp. 569-582.

4 Ghafoorunissa. Fats in Indian diets and their nutritional and health implications. Lipids. 1996 Mar;31 Suppl:S287-91.

5 Canola Quick Facts: Why Growers Choose GM Canola. Accessed online June 17, 2011 at http://web.archive.org/web/20071026034326/http://www.canola-council.org/facts_gmo.html

6 Canola Oil: The Myths Debunked. Accessed online June 17, 2011 at http://www.canolacouncil.org/canola_oil_the_truth.aspx

7 Canola Oil. Accessed online June 15, 2011 at http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp

8 Is Canola Oil Hazardous to Your Health? Accessed online June 16, 2011 at http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blcanola3.htm

Used with permission. Copyright  2011 Christine E. Marquette

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