I have long had an aversion to cooking with canola oil, it is produced primarily in Canada from rapeseed, a cousin of the mustard plant. It is essentially a weed. There are so many, far tastier cooking oils available anyway, why use an oil which contributes no flavor to your foods?  

Here is my Rich Takes! on Canola Oil

I am not totally opposed to GMOs, I think that it is a good thing to be able to grow corn, for example, that is resistant to pests. Or tomatoes which are resistant to various diseases. Yesterday I learned a little more about rapeseed and canola oil. It is an excellent industrial penetrating oil. It is used to produce glossy paper in magazines and brochures. Lot’s of great industrial uses, but why would anyone want to eat this stuff? WD-40 might be safer, it’s primary water-displacement agent is derived from fish oil. (don’t fry with WD, it’s too expensive anyway!)

Canola is also used in many commercial peanut butters and thousands of other processed foods. I’m a firm believer in reading the labels.

This is one GMO that I am not in favor of using, and you probably won’t be either after reading the following cross post written by Albert T. Milligan for MyoneSource.com. Thank you Terrell for your taking the time to research this topic which affects us all.

Would you cook with oil that comes from a seed that insects refuse to eat? Would you use industrial lubricating oils to cook food for your family? Most people would quickly answer “no” to both questions, yet they may unknowingly be using this product for cooking right now.

The dangers of cooking with canola oil are perhaps unknown by unsuspecting or uninformed consumers. New studies are proving the long term dangers of consumption of food products prepared with foods that have been genetically modified in laboratories. Canola oil is derived from genetically engineered rapeseed. The original purpose for this particular oil was for industrial lubrication use. Rapeseed is part of the mustard family. It is a toxic, poisonous weed that even insects won’t eat.

Is Canola Oil Dangerous?

Studies on rapeseed and the canola oil produced from it have proven it is a dangerous product for human consumption, yet it is still found on grocery shelves. Lung cancer, loss of vision, nervous system problems, breathing and heart illnesses, low birth weights and other side effects are typical. The processed rapeseed oil does not stay fresh; it turns rancid quickly.

In addition to all of the above negative side effects in humans, canola is a trans fatty acid. This type of acid is directly linked to cancer in humans. A common label for this oil says it is hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated. According to recent research, this type of oil should strongly be avoided. The negative effects of canola oil may also take a decade to become evident through symptoms. Older studies in England that focused on animals that had been fed rapeseed showed terrible results, such as blindness and extreme aggressiveness.

One of the problems with this oil is the genetic engineering. Other genetically modified products have recently been under close scrutiny for their toxic qualities. Many, like fluoride, were just industrial waste products that were so expensive to dispose of that manufacturers and users strongly wanted to find another use for them. The resulting creations somehow made their way into the food chain or were used in products designed for other human needs, like toothpaste.

In the case of canola oil, it is a substance that is found in industry used as fuel, soap, lubrication and as a synthetic rubber base. It is used in the print industry to make color magazine pages look slick. It is used as a pesticide and has been noted for having low chronic toxicities.

Genetically modified foods cause a problem because many of the substances used in the process of genetic engineering get passed along to food products that are not targets. If used in fertilizers, such as fluoride, the toxic chemical can get into food supplies like soy, corn and zucchini. This is then ingested unknowingly by humans who may discover the negative side effects years or even decades later when they get diagnosed with various diseases including cancer.

How Did This Happen?

Problems with rapeseed oil are not new to scientists. In Europe and in England during the 1980s, it was fed to animals in their feed. By 1991, the substance was banned, due to severe side effects on animal brains, vision and behavior. The oil was developed in Canada, and hefty amounts of money were paid out to get approvals by the U.S. FDA for its use in American foods. This oil is used in thousands of processed foods and as oil. The Canadian developers claim it is now safe, due to their genetic engineering, but other doctors and scientists feel this is totally not true.

Some studies that were conducted on rats linked many problems to ingestion of canola oil including fatty degeneration of the following organs:
• Heart
• Kidney
• Adrenals
• Thyroid gland

Cessation of use of the oil led to dissolution of fatty deposits but any scar tissue remained. It is odd that studies were never done on humans prior to FDA approval.

Canola oil works by depressing the immune system and by blocking enzyme function. The negative effects of its use can take years to accumulate to a progression that becomes symptomatic. It may destroy a protective coating that surrounds nerves. This may cause a short-circuit effect on the nerve communication systems that is seen in uncontrollable movements.

Canola oil is categorized as penetrating oil, which made it good for industrial uses. If you put some of this oil on a towel next to plain vegetable oil, you will notice after washing that the canola oil spot will still be seen. Imagine how this also works in the body.

One reason canola oil is popular in the food industry is that it is very cheap. It helps give products like peanut butter better spreadability. Manufacturers remove the natural peanut oil and replace it with this oil.

What Should Consumers Do?

• Read labels carefully. 
• Be prepared to pay more for better products that are more healthy and safe.
• Remember that canola oil is NOT healthy oil and avoid purchasing it or foods that are prepared with it.
• Use it only for lubrication of mechanical parts, not for human consumption.