- The presence of long-chain fatty acids, including erucic acid, which are thought by some to cause CNS degeneration, heart disease, and cancer;
- The high temperatures needed in the refining process to make canola oil palatable, which lead to formation of trans-fatty acids;
- Miscellaneous undesirable chemical constituents (thioglycosides and thiocyanates) whose effects are unclear, as their concentration in the refined product is probably very low.
Dangers of Canola Oil
Canola Oil Toxicity
As biotechnology alters plants to withstand higher concentrations of insecticides and pesticides in an effort to dramatically lower production costs of our food stocks, these "non-natural" foods will become more prevalent in our grocery stores. Our government, our leading food manufacturers and the companies that grow your foods want you to believe that they are safe. With minimal testing and approval virtually guaranteed by the powerful lobbying forces of the Agribusiness giants, your health is becoming at risk from ever increasing sources. The following are excerpts from the websites listed above each set of quotes. The real heart of the matter is that canola oil is not safe. Forget all the crap on the internet that is overly dramatized baloney full of half truths and misinformation like on http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/canola.htm or on www.snopes.com or others. The truth is that there are LARGE numbers of questionable events that have occurred, the processes for approval of genetically altered plant materials does not contain long term studies on humans, short term testing on animals has shown grave health problems, and that the information from the Canola Council of Canada is contradictory; all give us reason to avoid canola.
http://www.biotech-info.net/avoid_food_recall.html
Monsanto Co. believes that some of its canola seed might contain genetically modified material that isn't federally approved. Angling to avoid a massive recall of food products, the company is asking regulators to forgive any presence of it.
Monsanto created GT200 in the 1990s while trying to produce a seed capable of growing into a canola plant invulnerable to Roundup, a Monsanto weed killer. Such a plant would enable farmers to liberally apply the herbicide without damaging their crop. Ultimately, Monsanto chose to develop and market canola seed that had been modified differently. Called RT73, it is also invulnerable to Roundup.
Monsanto says it never sold the GT200 version commercially in Canada and isn't sure why it wound up in canola seed there.
"As we see more and more varieties come out (genetically altered plants). . . you might find trace amounts [of bioengineered ingredients] in food that didn't go through the full regulatory measure," says Michael P. Phillips of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, an industry trade group. But rather than hysterical reactions, the industry argues that government and society should accept trace-level contaminations. Officials of Monsanto, Aventis and other crop biotech companies want a new policy from the White House that would allow for the accidental presence of trace amounts of some genetically modified materials in seed and food
http://www.rmhiherbal.org/review/2000-4.html#ref-3a
canola oil was placed on the GRAS ("Generally Recognized As Safe") list, which allowed the canola industry to avoid the lengthy and expensive approval process, including medical research on humans. However, experimental rats that were fed canola oil "developed fatty degeneration of the heart, kidney, adrenals, and thyroid gland. On withdrawing the canola oil from their diets, the deposits dissolved but scar tissue remained on all vital organs."
Concerns about the risks of using canola (rapeseed) oil focus on several aspects:
Canola oil contains a long-chain fatty acid called erucic acid, which is especially irritating to mucous membranes; canola oil consumption has been correlated with development of fibrotic lesions of the heart, CNS degenerative disorders, lung cancer, and prostate cancer, anemia, and constipation. Canola oil derives from the plants Brassica campestris and B. napus, which have been selectively bred to substantially reduce the erucic acid content. However, some health professionals feel that there is still too much present in current canola oil products for safe use.
The long-chain fatty acids found in canola have been found to destroy the sphingomyelin surrounding nerve cells in the brain, in some cases leading to a degenerative brain condition remarkably similar to mad-cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy); in advanced cases the brain tissue develops a Swiss-cheese-like appearance, full of holes. Illnesses and conditions that have been associated with canola oil consumption include loss of vision (retinal capillaries are very sensitive and easily damaged), and a wide range of neurological disorders.
http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/70/8/2510.pdf
An article from the "Journal of Animal Science" in 1992 states that feeding rats canola meal, which is the meal leftover after pressing the oil from the crushed grain, is toxic.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1628410
Scariest of all is this bit of info- A simple method for improving the nutritive quality of canola and high glucosinolate rapeseed meals for monogastric animals (chicks) was developed; the meals were mixed with NaHCO3 and NH4HCO3, then heated in a conventional oven. Chicks fed untreated canola or rapeseed meals gained less weight than those fed a soybean meal diet, whereas chicks fed the alkaline-heated meals had weight gains not significantly different than those fed the soybean diet. The antithyroid effect of the untreated rapeseed meal was reduced by alkaline treatment of the meals, as shown by improved T4 and free T4 levels in chicks fed the processed products. In chicks fed untreated or alkaline-treated canola or alkaline heated rapeseed meal, all thyroid hormone levels were similar to those of birds fed the soybean meal diet. However, heart tissue of chicks fed diets containing rapeseed or canola meals showed muscle fiber degeneration, although relative heart weights were the same in all groups. Liver tissue from most of the chicks in all dietary groups appeared normal or only slightly abnormal. The nutritive value of both rapeseed and canola meals was improved by this simple processing technique.
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1628410
Chemically, canola breaks down at 5% saturated fat, 57% oleic acid, 23% omega–6, and 10–15% omega–3. .... Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions, notes that the omega–3 fatty acids of processed canola oil are transformed during the deodorizing process into trans–fatty acids.....Because of its high sulphur content, it goes rancid easily, and baked goods used with the oil develop molds rather quickly. .....Canadian researchers made the following remarkable statement: It is known that ingestion of oils containing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) of the n–3 and n–6 series results in a high degree of unsaturation in membrane phospholipids, which in turn may increase lipid peroxidation, cholesterol oxidation, free radical accumulation and membrane damage. All very bad attributes.
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