The Ugly on Canola oil? page

[dalvarez]

Can some one shed some more light on this type of oil.

[SerialSinner]

Long but very enlightening radio interview:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/EVO-Hea...skinny-on-Fats

[OnTheBayou]

Canola is a seed type, the rapeseed, that is inedible to humans. However, it grows well in relatively cold climes. Canola stands for CANadian OiL. Even with the genetic variation, the oil must be highly processed to make it pure and palatable. Follow the money!


It is probably the worst of the grain based oils for us.


Compare to, say, olive oil. Squeeze. Eat.


Along with the whole lipid hypothesis, someday we will wake up from this canola oil hangover and wonder what the hell were we thinking?

[SassaFrass88]

It makes my blood boil that they are telling heart patients to use this crap!


It's alarming!

[mds86]

What's so bad about it? Unsaturated so it should be at least somewhat helpful for raising good cholesterol and lowering the bad.


Continuation of the saturated vs. unsaturated fat argument...haha

[OnTheBayou]

Matt, I'm not sure if you are joking or not getting "it."


Poly u's do NOT do as the experts claim. Why do they claim these things? Because someone else said it. It's what sociologists call "cascading." Things take on a life of their own.


Blood serum cholesterol, despite the hype and billions of tests done in the last few decades has almost NO predictive ability of pending heart disease issues. What is, as "they" are just starting to learn, is triglyceride levels.


And what kind of diet, pray tell, do you think lowers triglyceride levels? Ten, nine, eight.....

[Conan]

I just noticed last night that Cordain is a big promoter of canola in the paleo diet book. He lists it as the second best oil behind flaxseed oil, primarily due to the Omega 3: Omega 6 ratio. Clarence Bass (70 year old bodybuilder) is also big on canola. Neither one of these guys are big promoters of conventional wisdom, though both seem to have some concerns about dietary fats.

[Crystal W.]

As OnTheBayou mentioned, it isn't a good fat at all. Rapeseed is bitter so it is processed---kinda like hydrogenation. Canola doesn't have any health benefits, it's cheap, that's it.

[OnTheBayou]

Crystal, as Conan mentions, it does have a good omega ratio, so there is some benefit.


I'd rather get mine from fish or capsules and leave all the bad things about canola behind.


As to flax seed oil, well, can you do anything with it other than take a spoonful for omegas? And it's not all that great even there. Very little of the precursor gets converted to real Omega 3. Very unstable, needs refrigeration, exensive for bulk use.

[Conan]

I think Cordain may be overly focused on omega ratios. It looks like that is pretty much the only factor he takes into account when rating oils and nuts. He lists walnuts as the best nut and almonds almost dead last.