5 Canola Oil Myths Debunked

Depending on what you read, canola oil is either a superfood or a toxic chemical. Who knew a vegetable oil could be so controversial? I’m a registered dietitian and want to set the record straight about canola oil for once and for all.

No, canola oil doesn’t contain harmful toxins

A uniquely Canadian product, canola oil was developed in Manitoba through selective breeding of the rapeseed (Brassica napus) plant in the 1970s. Its name, canola, comes from “Can” (from Canada,) and “ola” (meaning oil).

The misconception that canola oil contains toxins likely stems from the fact that oil from the original rapeseed plant was high in erucic acid, a compound that can potentially cause damage to the heart in large amounts. In animal studies, heart damage occurred when rats were fed 1,500 mg of erucic per kg of body weight per day. While we can’t always translate animal findings to humans, to put that finding in context, it’s the equivalent of a 150-pound human consuming 102,000 mg of erucic acid per day. Since canola oil has been selectively bred to contain only 0.01 percent—or 0.00136 mg—erucic acid per tablespoon, it would literally be impossible to ingest that much erucic acid from canola oil on a daily basis. So it’s safe to say canola oil poses absolutely no risk to humans.

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Furthermore, Health Canada conducted a comprehensive assessment of canola oil according to its Guidelines for the Safety Assessment of Novel Foods and concluded that canola oil is safe and nutritious, and does not raise any concerns related to human food safety.

Canola oil is genetically engineered—but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for you

Since canola was invented through crossbreeding, the plant has been genetically engineered to be resistant to herbicides and pesticides, as are another 14 foods that Health Canada has approved for genetic engineering, like soybeans, potatoes, corn, sugar beets, alfalfa, eggplant and squash. Genetic modification allows farmers to use fewer chemicals on their crops. Genetic modification can make crops less prone to disease and pests, and can help with weeds and better yields. Today about 95 percent of the canola grown in Canada is genetically modified. According to the World Health Organization, no hazard has been shown to exist with regards to human consumption of genetically modified canola, despite an enormous amount of scientific research.

Those fearful of genetically modified foods often express concerns related to the idea that genetic modification may introduce allergens from one plant into another type of plant, may negatively impact the plant’s nutritional content or may result in the plant having toxic effects on the human body, however there is no scientific evidence to back up these concerns. Health Canada does a thorough safety assessment of all genetically modified foods for sale in Canada using the Codex Alimentarius, a set of international standards and guidelines developed by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Canola oil is highly processed—but that doesn’t mean we need to avoid it

Similar to all seed oils, canola oil is refined via a process that involves cleaning the seeds, heating them slightly so more oil can be removed, crushing and finally pressing them to extract the oil. A solvent called hexane is used to help remove the oil from the seed. The hexane is then removed from the oil and solids and is reused and recycled. An estimated 0.8 mg of residual hexane remains per kg of oil in refined vegetable oils, but this trace amount is insignificant and not harmful. To put it into perspective, the amount of hexane we ingest from all food sources makes up less than two percent of our total daily hexane intake from all other sources, primarily gasoline fumes, as hexane is naturally present in gasoline. Crude canola oil is further refined to remove impurities and unpleasant odours, improve colour and shelf life.

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Though more expensive and harder to find, some canola oil is cold-pressed, meaning no heat or chemicals were used in the extraction process. Cold-pressed oil retains higher levels of nutrients and antioxidants and more flavour because it isn't exposed to heat. However, those nutritional benefits that are preserved through cold-pressing are lost by cooking with high heat (so it’s best for uncooked applications like salad dressings). Also, the small amounts of nutrients retained in cold-pressed oil, compared to refined oil, aren’t really that significant when compared to nutrients provided by a healthy diet and whole foods.

No, canola oil isn’t high in trans fats

Per tbsp, canola oil provides 126 calories and 14 g fat as well as small amounts of vitamin E, an antioxidant that protects against free radical damage.

The fatty acid composition can be further broken down into:

• • 1.1 g saturated fat. Saturated fat raises your LDL or “bad” cholesterol; consumption of it is linked to heart disease. Canola oil actually has the lowest saturated fat content of any common cooking oil. This means that when used in place of fats that are rich in saturated fat, such as butter (7.4 g per tbsp), lard (5.2 g per tbsp) and coconut oil (12 g per tbsp), canola oil can help reduce LDL cholesterol.
  • 9 g monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fat lowers total and LDL cholesterol when it replaces saturated fat and increases your HDL or “good” cholesterol and is therefore protective against heart disease. Compared to other fat sources, canola oil is very high in monounsaturated fatty acids
  • 4 g polyunsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fat helps lower LDL cholesterol and plays an important role in blood clotting, muscle movement and inflammation. The polyunsaturated fatty acids in canola oil are further broken down to 1.3 g omega-3 and 2.7 g omega-6.
  • 0.3 g trans fats. Trans fats raise LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, lower HDL cholesterol, increase inflammation and are proven to increase risk for cardiovascular disease. Based on these effects, the recommendation is to limit their intake as much as possible. Canola oil does contain small amounts of trans fats—as do all oils that have been de-odorized. (This is part of the refining process of most vegetable oils, which gives them their neutral flavour. One way to potentially avoid trans fats is to choose cold-pressed, unrefined oils.)

No, canola oil doesn’t cause inflammation because of an “unbalanced” ratio of omega-3 to omega-6

As we’ve already covered, canola oil is a good source of both omega-3 and omega-6, essential fatty acids that we must get from our diet. Omega-6 (found in nuts, seeds and vegetable oils such as sunflower, corn and soybean) however, tends to be easy to come by in the typical North American diet because it’s often found in processed foods, fast foods, baked goods and cured meats. At the same time, it’s common for people to be deficient in omega-3 (found in flaxseeds, chia seeds, fatty fish like salmon and sardines, walnuts, tofu, oysters and canola oil). Generally, a healthy ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is considered to be 1:1, while the typical Western diet has a ratio of around 15:1. This imbalance is linked to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, mood disorders and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of canola oil is 2:1, which makes it a healthy fat to choose because it’s a source of harder-to-get omega-3s. Yes, it’s also healthy to include more food sources of omega-3 and decrease processed and fast foods high in omega-6, but as far as choosing a cooking oil goes, canola is a great choice.

So should you use canola oil?

In a word, yes. The social media hysteria on canola oil isn’t backed up by science. It’s a heart-healthy oil that is rich in omega-3s and low in saturated fat. It’s also neutral tasting and inexpensive, plus it has a very high smoke point (460°F—one of the highest smoke points among conventionally available oils), so it’s good for everything from deep frying, grilling, searing and stir-frying, to salad dressings, muffins and marinades. And it’s Canadian grown.