Canola oil can be harmful and the much-maligned coconut oil has been found to be good for our bones. The debate on which oil is good and which is bad is still sizzling.
Canola oil had a bad reputation because it is made from what critics describe as genetically engineered rapeseed plant. Advocates say, however, it comes from a hybrid developed in Canada in the late 1960s to minimise erucic acid, which is unfit for human consumption. Erucic acid makes up 30 to 60 per cent of the fatty acids of the original rapeseed. Rape oil with high erucic acid content is normally used as an insect repellent, a lubricant and in a variety of industrial functions.
There have been charges that factory workers frying chips with canola oil developed a range of health problems. These range from loose teeth and gum disease; numb hands and feet; swollen arms and legs on rising in the morning; extreme joint pain, especially in the hands, cloudy vision, constipation, with stool like black marbles; hearing loss; skin tears when bumped; lack of energy; hair loss and heart pains. Others allege high cholesterol readings after the long-term use of canola oil.
The Canola Council of Canada says cooking with unrefined rapeseed oil may result in such symptoms. Refined vegetable frying oils, on the other hand, contain antioxidants 'which help prevent harmful emissions during frying'.
The council says canola oil contains 18 carbon unsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. It maintains that canola oil does not 'cause or contribute' to any disease, but can improve health. 'The positive effects of canola's unsaturated fatty acids on certain health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, are well documented,' the council says.
Canola oil is usually blended with other vegetable oils in the production of margarine, shortening, salad oil and vegetable oil.