# Canola oil controversy



## deep blue (Sep 27, 2010)

I wouldn't like to panic, but what is this. Do anybody have opinion about this?

http://www.karinya.com/canola.htm


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## cwarren (Sep 27, 2010)

Take with grain of salt - JMO  everything is bad in some way


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## Tabitha (Sep 27, 2010)

Everyday there is something new to get hysterical about :roll: .


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## BakingNana (Sep 27, 2010)

Here's my HO:  This is full of half-truths and misinformation.  I think articles like this are counterproductive as far as determining any health risks from anything out there.  Here is what the Canola Council has to say (bear in mind, it IS the Canola Council; I'm not vouching for anything!)

"Q: Is it true that Europe has banned canola oil since 1991?
A: No. The European Union (EU) countries together produce more canola than Canada. Europeans call their canola "oilseed rape" and the oil "rape oil" or "rapeseed oil" but it is canola. They chose not to adopt the new name "canola" when it was developed. So Europeans consume canola oil every day and have ever since canola was introduced in Europe shortly after being developed in Canada. 

The difference at present is that European farmers are prevented by law from growing genetically modified canola (or any GM crop). Europeans therefore consume canola oil from non-GM plants. Most of the canola oil from Canada can be exported to the EU and the EU has approved some of the GM canola seed for processing as well."

I find it interesting that the author obviously uses EOs, and we all know quite a few of them are toxic at certain levels!


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## Lindy (Sep 27, 2010)

I found that article to be very offensive.  Yes Canola is genetically modified Rapeseed oil.  I don't personally use it for cooking or soaps, but articles like that are nothing more than fear-mongering of the worst kind and that is why I find it offensive.  A lot of information that is totally inaccurate too.  For instance, cattle are not fed sheep, they are fed grains, at least here in Canada by the way so that is another part that is invalid......


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## BakingNana (Sep 27, 2010)

Agree with Lindy. :evil:


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## deep blue (Sep 28, 2010)

Thank you for your answers. Today there are so many pros and cons for so many things so I had to hear other opinion.


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## dagmar88 (Sep 28, 2010)

BakingNana said:
			
		

> Here's my HO:  This is full of half-truths and misinformation.  I think articles like this are counterproductive as far as determining any health risks from anything out there.  Here is what the Canola Council has to say (bear in mind, it IS the Canola Council; I'm not vouching for anything!)
> 
> "Q: Is it true that Europe has banned canola oil since 1991?
> A: No. The European Union (EU) countries together produce more canola than Canada. Europeans call their canola "oilseed rape" and the oil "rape oil" or "rapeseed oil" but it is canola. They chose not to adopt the new name "canola" when it was developed. So Europeans consume canola oil every day and have ever since canola was introduced in Europe shortly after being developed in Canada.
> ...



Yup. No canola ban over here; we just call it rapeseed oil and it's used very often as a healthy alternative to solid frying oils.
I think Europe does grow GM crops though...


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## madpiano (Sep 28, 2010)

Actually, we do not have Canola Oil here. Canola is a trade name for a GM Rape Seed / Oil made from that seed. In Europe we have been breeding edible Rape Seed for a long time and came to a similar Oil as the Canola GM Plant produces (low in whatever is causing stomach upsets in Rape Seed). There does seem to be a large difference though, it doesn't cause DOS here. So whatever their lab-modification did, it has an effect on the oil that isn't easily visible and natural selection produces a better oil. 
I use cheap rape seed oil for soaping and cooking and I use cold pressed for Salads in the summer. It's yummy.


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## BakingNana (Sep 28, 2010)

madpiano said:
			
		

> Actually, we do not have Canola Oil here. Canola is a trade name for a GM Rape Seed / Oil made from that seed. In Europe we have been breeding edible Rape Seed for a long time and came to a similar Oil as the Canola GM Plant produces (low in whatever is causing stomach upsets in Rape Seed). There does seem to be a large difference though, it doesn't cause DOS here. So whatever their lab-modification did, it has an effect on the oil that isn't easily visible and natural selection produces a better oil.
> I use cheap rape seed oil for soaping and cooking and I use cold pressed for Salads in the summer. It's yummy.



Interesting info.  Though I'm a little confused over the Canola name.  Whole Foods markets an organic Canola oil, and it cannot be GM. ??  Maybe here (US) the word Canola has become like kleenex.


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## donniej (Sep 28, 2010)

> Canola is a Trans Fatty Acid, which has shown to have a direct link to cancer. These Trans Fatty acids are labeled as hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Avoid all of them!



I've been studying oils for several years now and also took a chemistry class which covered fatty acids last semester.  I would bet money that the above information is totally false.  

Hydrogenation is process where oils are heated and mixed with hydrogen gas.  This process creates saturated, trans fatty acids.  Hydrogenated fatty acids are solid at room temperature (Crisco for example).  Canola is not hydrogenated, if it was then it would be solid at room temp.  Nor is it a trans fatty acid.  

So what else is wrong with this article?  Lots I'd bet....


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## Hazel (Sep 28, 2010)

I agree with Lindy. Just another person trying to scare consumers for their own agenda.


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## madpiano (Sep 29, 2010)

BakingNana said:
			
		

> Interesting info.  Though I'm a little confused over the Canola name.  Whole Foods markets an organic Canola oil, and it cannot be GM. ??  Maybe here (US) the word Canola has become like kleenex.



could well be, or there is just no GM free Rape Seed available anymore? I mean in essence the selective breeding they have done with the seed over centuries here in Europe is not THAT different from GM, just a much slower process.


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## Healinya (Sep 29, 2010)

This was an interesting documentary on US genetically modified food... (it's also on netflix) I think anyone who eats food should watch it. (but keep in mind there can always be some level of exageration)

http://www.thefutureoffood.com/


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## velitasyjaboncitos (Oct 26, 2010)

Sometimes I use Canola Oil to make soap.... Until now everything's been great.


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## BakingNana (Oct 26, 2010)

Healinya said:
			
		

> This was an interesting documentary on US genetically modified food... (it's also on netflix) I think anyone who eats food should watch it. (but keep in mind there can always be some level of exageration)
> 
> http://www.thefutureoffood.com/



That WAS good.   And you're right...gotta keep your head glued on when you watch/read things.


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## Woodi (Oct 31, 2010)

my take: despite the fact that our food supply is in danger of being a LOT less safe than it was in the early 1900's, when all food was organic, nothing subjected to pesticides and herbicides......

I avoid canola in cooking, and I don't like how it makes soap bars feel 'sticky' in my hands, compared with olive as the high percentage oil in my soaps.

I also learned a few years ago, that the larger growers of rapeseed found a way to make their rapeseed crops impervious to some pesticides, like e.g. 2-4-D, a popular weed-killer which people in my old neighbourhood used to use liberally on their grass-only lawns (not me, I like fields of wildflowers in my 'lawn').

So corporations made rapeseed "dioxin-friendly" which means you can spray poisons on it, and it won't be killed. Then we get to eat the un-killed toxins in the canola oil. I don't know if anyone determined whether human digestive systems can be harmed by eating the toxin-sprayed rapeseed, or canola.


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## Lindy (Oct 31, 2010)

I've been thinking about all the genetically altered grains we have these days and how many more people there are who are gluten intolerance.  I think we can actually link this to the GM wheat etc that has replaced the "heritage" seeds which were so much weaker than the new & improved.  Being gluten intolerant was never even heard of when I was a kid, but suddenly there are huge portions of the population who can't have anything with gluten which includes wheat, oats, barley and other "grain" crops.

Even back in the 60's the modified what was coming into popularity because it was more disease resistant and grew larger seed heads.  So really, we're our own worst enemy as a culture....  just sayin'


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## FloridaSoaper (Jan 31, 2011)

Lindy said:
			
		

> So really, we're our own worst enemy as a culture....  just sayin'




I love this, and totally agree ...


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## Marianne1 (Feb 11, 2011)

*Wow*

Hi everyone I just want you to know that my family has been using Canola oil for years and years.I'm talking heavy use here ,daily use. For occasional frying but mostly raw combined with a nice wine vinegar for salads. Also my Father had this practice as well since it came out he died three years ago in his late 80's not from heart or cancer either. My Mother has been eating exclusively canola oil since the late 1980's as well and she is now 88 and still no heart problems and although cancer runs rampant in her family she has never had a bout of it, the only one in her family that hasn't. When my son was a few months old he developed severe eczema ,I couldn't stand his suffering so as any parent would I tried everything and anything to solve that nasty problem,but to no avail. I had to take him to specialists and many other doctors ,homeopaths  too. When he was about 2 it still wasn't better and I almost lost him to a severe skin infection as a result. I tried many homemade soaps many hours and hours of research,homemade  salves baths ,everything I knew how to do. A year later I tried yet another soap I had made out of calendula tea and pure canola oil. Seemed too simple to me after all my other elaborate concoctions but guess what two weeks later rash free,incredible to me because by that time he had been three years. So although I find the hoopla about canola oil surprising,I am for one not alarmed at all,I still eat it everyday,and so does my elderly mother.


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## maya (Feb 13, 2011)

snopes.com has an interesting article on canola/rapeseed oil
http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp


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## Hazel (Feb 13, 2011)

maya said:
			
		

> snopes.com has an interesting article on canola/rapeseed oil
> http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp



maya - 

Thanks for posting the link. This is very interesting.


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## maya (Feb 13, 2011)

welcome. YEARS of working in the organic/natural/healthfood industry has taught me a ton about food, additives, what is worth it and what isnt and the occasional fear mongering.


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## Bubbles Galore (Mar 3, 2011)

Woodi said:
			
		

> my take: despite the fact that our food supply is in danger of being a LOT less safe than it was in the early 1900's, when all food was organic, nothing subjected to pesticides and herbicides......
> 
> I avoid canola in cooking, and I don't like how it makes soap bars feel 'sticky' in my hands, compared with olive as the high percentage oil in my soaps.
> 
> ...



This is why I don't use it in cooking.

I used it in a soap bar a few months ago and I was happy with how it behaved with the other oils to make a lovely bar of soap, but now, it has DOS so I won't do that again.


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## Woodi (Mar 3, 2011)

Monsanto made rapeseed "Roundup-ready", which means that you can now spray with Roundup (a highly toxic poison) and it doesn't kill the rapeseed (which is what canola oil is made from), but just kills weeds around it.

I don't like the idea of being able to eat something sprayed with Roundup.

Not sure if I even want to put it on my skin, cuz things have a way of leaching into the body through the skin.

and as for Marianne's claim that her relatives have been eating canola oil for years, and lived long healthy lives into their 80's....consider:Canola oil has only been around in its current form since about 1978. People who never ate it in their childhoods may have stronger immune systems. Today's octogenarians ate mostly organic foods in their childhoods also.


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