Is Canola Oil Bad for You?
When walking down the baking aisle at your grocery store, you will notice that there are many different types of oils available. Choosing the right oil is not only important for having your recipe turn out correctly, but also to help protect your health. Decades ago most people believed that all oils were bad for you due to the high fat content. Thankfully, this misinformation has largely gone by the wayside. Today, there is another problem. Many people think that if one oil is healthy, that all are healthy. One of the most popular types of oils you will see today is known as Canola oil. When asked, most people assume that it comes from a Canola plant or canola seed or something like that. The fact is that there is no such thing. Instead, Canola was originally developed from rapeseed, and the term Canola was used for better marketing. Today, almost all the Canola oil you will find at your supermarket is a
GMO made by Monsanto. It is incredibly cheap to make, which is why it is a more attractive option. The real question is whether or not Canola oil is bad for you? In one word, YES! Canola is terrible for you and should be eliminated from your diet. Let’s review the reasons for this.
How Canola Oil is Made
Canola oil is one of the most highly processed oils you can buy. Unlike most olive oils, which are pressed for their oil, Canola goes through many steps that most people will find quite extreme. The seeds of the Rapeseed are highly modified. The seeds are harvested from the pods and then brought to a large facility, which is where the real processing begins.
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Separating Seeds from Other Things – The first step is to separate the seeds from all the other things that come with them, such as pieces of the plant. This is done by running it all over a giant vibrating machine that allows the seeds to fall through without the other debris.
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Rolling the Seeds – The seeds are then crushed between two large rollers, which breaks the seeds down into small flakes.
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Pressing the Seeds – These flakes are then sent through a screw press, which removes about three-quarters of the total oil from the seeds.
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Further Refining – The remaining flakes go through a 70-minute chemical extraction process using toxic chemicals to remove the remaining oil.
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Sodium Hydroxide – All the oil gathered is now washed in sodium hydroxide to remove unwanted components and impurities (these impurities are sold to make soap).
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Removing Wax – The remaining oil is then cooled down to thicken the waxes in the oil so they can be removed.
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Bleaching – Next, the oil is bleached to help lighten the color to make it visually appealing.
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Steam Injection – Finally, the oil goes through a steam injection process to remove the Canola odor.
As you can see, this is a lot of processing to take the seed and turn it into the oil you see in stores, and it certainly doesn’t seem natural at all.
Trans Fats
While Canola oil indicates that is has a healthy fat content, that is not the case. A recent
study found that Canola oil has anywhere from .56% to 4.2% toxic trans fats, which are extremely unhealthy. These specific types of fats are
linked with heart disease. Most Canola oil doesn’t list these trans fats on the labels because they aren’t there early on in the processing. Instead, these trans fats are formed because of the way the seeds are processed to make the oil.
Increased Heart Disease
Many advocates of Canola oil state that this type of oil can help to reduce cholesterol, which is technically correct. What they fail to mention, is that despite the reduction in overall cholesterol levels, those who consumed Canola oil had increased rates of heart disease over long periods of time. This was shown in two major studies (
1 and
2) that looked at heart disease itself rather than just risk factors.
Know Your Canola Oil
Another common tactic of Canola oil advocates is to use information related to the Canola oil that is organic and cold pressed, which is less processed. While even this type of Canola oil is unhealthy, it is far less so than the highly processed versions. When looking in a supermarket, you will find that the vast majority of the Canola is not organic and is genetically modified and highly processed. If you have to use Canola oil, it is best always to go with the organic cold pressed options as they will cause much less damage to your health.
