Canola oil is a vegetable-based oil found in countless foods. Many people have cut canola oil out of their diet due to concerns over its health effects and production methods. However, you may still wonder whether it’s best to use or avoid canola oil.

Canola oil was created in a Canadian university lab by Dr. Baldur Steffanson. Dr. Steffanson, after getting his newly created version of Rapeseed to meet FDA guidelines (with less toxic eurcic acid) he went on to work for Calgene.

HOW IS CANOLA OIL MADE

According to the Canola Council of Canada, this process involves the following steps:

1. Seed cleaning.Canola seeds are separated and cleaned to remove impurities such as plant stalks and dirt.
2. Seed conditioning and flaking:Seeds are pre-heated to about 95℉ (35℃), then “flaked” by roller mills to rupture the cell wall of the seed.
3. Seed cooking.The seed flakes are cooked by a series of steam-heated cookers. Typically, this heating process lasts 15–20 minutes at 176–221℉ (80°–105°C).
4. Next, the cooked canola seed flakes are pressed in a series of screw presses or expellers. This action removes 50–60% of the oil from the flakes, leaving the rest to be extracted by other means.
5. Solvent extraction.The remaining seed flakes, containing 18–20% oil, are further broken down using a chemical called hexane to obtain the remainder of the oil.

RAPESEED OIL IS THE MOST WIDELY CONSUMED “FOOD STUFF” TOXIN IN THE WORLD

When it comes to cooking oils and preservatives, canola is the most widely consumed food toxin in the world, and nobody seems to know it. A new study published online by researchers from the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, and published in Scientific Reports, associated canola consumption with weight gain, restricted learning ability and worsened memory.

CANOLA OIL LINKED TO WORSENED MEMORY AND LEARNING ABILITY IN ALZHEIMER’S

Now, a new study published online December 7 in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) associates the consumption of canola oil in the diet with worsened memory, worsened learning ability and weight gain in mice which model Alzheimer’s disease. The study is the first to suggest that canola oil is more harmful than healthful for the brain.

“Canola oil is appealing because it is less expensive than other vegetable oils, and it is advertised as being healthy,” explained Domenico Praticò, MD, Professor in the Departments of Pharmacology and Microbiology and Director of the Alzheimer’s Center at LKSOM, as well as senior investigator on the study. “Very few studies, however, have examined that claim, especially in terms of the brain.”

Looking at the findings, Dr. Practico stated, “Even though canola oil is a vegetable oil, we need to be careful before we say that it is healthy. Based on the evidence from this study, canola oil should not be thought of as being equivalent to oils with proven health benefits.”