Is Canola Oil Actually Healthy, Or Is It Bad For You?

[Frigga]

The Canola Oil Marketing Deception
Have you been lied to about the health benefits of canola oil?

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

If you've been following my fitness newsletters for some time, you may have noticed that I NEVER include canola oil in any of my recipes or any of my lists of healthy foods.

Many people have asked me why, because all they hear in the mainstream media is that canola oil is "heart healthy" and a good source of monounsaturated fats similar to olive oil.

Well, first of all, you need to realize that much of what you hear in the mainstream media has been influenced by heavy handed marketing tactics by big food companies. Canola oil is cheap for them to produce so they want to fool you into thinking it's a "health oil" so that people, restaurants, etc will buy it up as their main oil of choice.

The dirty truth about canola oil

Yes, it's true that canola oil is high in monounsaturates, but let me explain why canola oil is anything but "healthy".

Canola oil is made from something called rapeseed. Rapeseed actually had to be bred over the years to reduce the percentage of a problematic component of rapeseed, which is erucic acid. Canola oil typically ranges between 55-65% monounsaturated fat and between 28-35% polyunsaturated fat, with just a small amount of saturated fat.

While we've been led to believe that high monounsaturated fat oils are good for us (which they are in the case of virgin olive oil or from unprocessed nuts or seeds), the fact is that canola oil has more detriments than it does benefits.

As you may have heard me talk about in other newsletters or in my Truth about Abs book... one of the biggest problems with highly processed and refined vegetable oils such as corn oil, soybean oil, and yes, even canola oil, is that the polyunsaturated component of the oil is highly unstable under heat, light, and pressure, and this heavily oxidizes the polyunsaturates which increases free radicals in your body.

The end result of all of this refining and processing are oils that are highly inflammatory in your body when you ingest them, potentially contributing to heart disease, weight gain, and other degenerative diseases.

The reason that extra virgin olive oil is good for you is that it is cold pressed without the use of heat and solvents to aid extraction.

Canola oil, on the other hand, is typically extracted and refined using high heat, pressure, and petroleum solvents such as hexane. Most canola oil undergoes a process of caustic refining, degumming, bleaching, and deoderization, all using high heat and questionable chemicals.

Does canola even have trans fats?

Even worse, all of this high heat, high pressure processing with solvents actually forces some of the omega-3 content of canola oil to be transformed into trans fats.

According to Dr. Mary Enig, PhD, and Nutritional Biochemist, "Although the Canadian government lists the trans fat content of canola at a minimal 0.2 percent, research at the University of Florida at Gainesville, found trans fat levels as high as 4.6 percent in commercial liquid canola oil".

And this is the crap that they are marketing to you as a "health oil"!

As you can see from the details above on how canola oil is processed, it is barely any healthier for you than other junk oils like soybean oil or corn oil. The bottom line is that it is an inflammatory oil in your body and should be avoided.

The only canola oil that might be reasonable is if you see that it is "cold pressed" and organic. Most canola oil is NOT cold pressed or organic, so you might as well choose oils that you know are healthier.

Your best bets are these oils:

extra virgin olive oil - for lower temperature cooking or used as a healthy salad dressing oil
Udo's Choice Oil Blend - NEVER use this for cooking as it has a higher polyunsaturated fat content (therefore heat destroys the benefits of this oil), but it is a cold processed blend of healthy oils that mixes well with olive oil for salad dressings.
Virgin coconut oil - great for all temperatures of cooking due to it's high stability under heat. A great source of healthy saturated fats in the form of medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), one of which is Lauric Acid, which helps support the immune system and is lacking in most western diets.
Organic grass-fed butter - I like to use a mix of butter, coconut oil, and a small bit of olive oil for most of my cooking. Grass-fed butter is a great source of CLA, which has even been shown in studies to have muscle building and fat burning properties.
So don't be fooled by food labels claiming that they contain "healthy canola oil"... as you can see, this couldn't be further from the truth! Choose some of the healthier options above and your body will thank you!

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[Creeping Death]

Im not so sure about Canola Oil, I always use Olive oil for cooking, when I lived in America back in 1985 I had canola oil there which tasted okay. I tried Canola Oil about a month ago, it was clear but the taste of the oil in my food was not to my liking. I know that Genetically modified canola has been grown in Canada since 1995 and today over 80% of production is of genetically modified canola. I believe Canola oil should be avoided at all cost, like Rice Bran Oil.

[Skandi]

Rape is the ONLY oil crop that we grow here. Nothing else will grow, personally it is my preferred oil for cooking and we are never told it is healthy or unhealthy, I wonder if that is an American marketing thing.

We are told that sunseed tm is healthy, as far as I can tell this is a modified form of sunflower oil

[Fortis in Arduis]

I do not generally use coconut oil for cooking, but I am going to try.

I currently use mustard oil which I one has to 'burn' to get rid of the pungent flavour. That cannot be good.

Olive oil I have no use for, because I do not eat salads, but I could add it at the end of cooking, because to heat it is wasteful.

Ghee, I could make.

What is wrong with commercially made ghee Spindle?

[Frigga]

Nothing that I'm aware of FIA. In fact, for those who have lactose intolerance and casein allergies, the only dairy product they can use is ghee. You can make it yourself, it's not hard.

[Fortis in Arduis]

Nothing that I'm aware of FIA. In fact, for those who have lactose intolerance and casein allergies, the only dairy product they can use is ghee. You can make it yourself, it's not hard.

Ah, but according to GAPS, commercially made ghee is off the menu.

Of course, generally, there is nothing wrong with ghee at all!!!