Canola Oil is Healthy and Inexpensive
Did you ever notice there are those people who will tell you how everything is bad for you? Don’t eat this and don’t eat that?
They make grand assertions about the modern food system. Often claiming we should return to the age of the caveman. Assuming that health will return when we eat what our ancestors ate.
Early paleo man was often reminded not to bring in that old woolly mammoth – it stunk up the cave. She would have been happier had he brought in beer and sausage (at least beer until football was invented).
The Logical Fallacy of Ancestral Diets / and Humans
Proponents of ancestral diets are confused by the logical fallacy called a biotruth.
What is a biotruth? An argument based upon a misunderstanding of natural selection or the evolutionary process. Usually combined with the conclusion that if it was good enough for primitive man, it should be true for now. Ultimately, we forget that primitive man did not have an easy life.
Canola Oil Podcast Transcript
Canola oil is today’s topic because not everyone wants to buy expensive olive oil. When I mention canola oil on TikTok, the comments go like this:
- Canola oil was “meant” to be motor oil
- It comes from the rapeseed plant
- It is a GMO-crummy oil
- Chemically extracted with hexane and it can turn rancid and create trans-fats
Are those claims valid? Should we avoid Canola oil? Must we avoid Canadians in general?
Today on Fork U
We will make sense of the madness that is Canola oil. Is it an evil plant that is only good to make oil for your car, truck, or tank? Or is it a reasonable oil for your body?
I’m Dr. Terry Simpson, and this is Fork U
Fork University
Where we make sense of the madness
Bust a few myths
And teach you a little bit about food as medicine.
What is Canola Oil?
Canola oil was invented in the 1970s in Canada and is an acronym that stands for Canadian oil’s low acid.
Canola comes from the pressed seeds of rapeseed plants. Granted, that is an unfortunate name. However, not if you know its epistemology. Rapeseed comes from the Latin rapa, which translates to “turnip.” Thus this flowering plant is a member of the turnip, cabbage, and mustard family.
Latin just isn’t taught anymore. But if you think of Rome often, as we men do, Latin might be the new language for you.
Speaking of Mustard, did you ever wonder why we don’t have mustard oil in the United States? Primarily Erucic acid.
Erucic Acid
Erucic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid that is associated with heart disease. In some poorly done experiments in rats, they seemed to have higher levels of heart disease. Rats, not politicians. But the healthy kind of rats you find in sewers, not the vermin found in Washington, DC.
Erucic acid is why you don’t find mustard seed oil in the United States. Those who travel to India will experience delicious foods cooked in mustard oil. But don’t fear. It will be just fine (ref).
In fact, erucic acid decreases the rate of some progressive brain diseases and is being examined to treat cancer and other diseases.
Rapeseed Oil as a lubricant
Because of the high erucic acid content, rapeseed oil was originally used as an industrial lubricant. Some rapeseed was cold pressed, seeds gathered, pressed, and not heated, and the oil extracted. This has been used as a cooking oil for years, but there was concern regarding the erucic acid content.
Canadians Hybrids
Canadian scientists began to crossbreed the rapeseed with wild cabbage to lower erucic acid. The seeds of this new hybrid plant became the Canola oil. Later, this plant was genetically modified to withstand Round Up. Hence, it is a genetically modified plant (ref).
GMO Oh No
As someone who has published about genetic engineering, I find the fear of GMOs to be a fear of the unknown. Modifying genes is what humans have been doing for centuries. Hence, using laboratory techniques is simply faster than cross-breeding. Still, GMOs are a major cause of heartburn for the latte-sipping English major.
It is human studies that are the gold standard for how a food behaves. Not where it came from or what it has been used as.
Lyon The Gastronomic Capital of France
Let us begin in Lyon, France. The capital of fine dining in the world, home of restaurants with over twenty Michelin stars.
But Lyon? Home of butter? What happens when we take people with heart attacks from Lyon and ask them to change their diet?
There was a seventy-five percent lower incidence of cardiac deaths in patients with a first heart attack who modified their diet to a Mediterranean-style diet.
What was the main change? Well, they wanted the French to go from butter to olive oil, but alas, that was not popular. The French, other than those who reside in the Rivera, do not find olive oil attractive. But the French had no trouble adopting canola oil.
Canola oil was provided as both a cooking oil and a margarin to spread on their famous French bread.
Mediterranean Diet
Other changes they adopted included:
- consume whole grains rather than refined grains,
- to have fish more than beef,
- and to never go a day without fruit.
In the first year, the canola group had 73% less risk of having a second heart attack or dying from heart disease. After several years, the final paper (referenced here) showed a similar risk reduction.
Implementing the Mediterranean Diet
One of the great conclusions of the Lyon heart study was that adopting the Mediterranean-style diet was not that difficult for these patients. While some doctors might give up, this one dietary change had as much influence as controlling blood pressure in patients with clinically active heart disease.
Other Human Studies?
Nine studies showed that patients consuming canola oil had lower LDL cholesterol. The higher the LDL, the more heart disease a person is likely to have, as well as strokes and peripheral vascular disease.
In spite of what the shirtless salesmen of supplements and scams want to tell you, the human trials show:
- Canola oil is not toxic to humans
Canola oil improves biomarkers for the heart
Canola oil improves insulin levels.
Canola oil over butter and cream is one factor leading to less heart disease in patients with coronary artery disease.
Canola Oil is Not Toxic to Humans
- Lab studies of people improve when consuming canola oil over saturated fat, butter, or beef tallow.
- Insulin levels are decreased – which is good – with canola oil
- And as in Lyon, while the butter is delicious, those who consume canola oil have fewer problems with their heart.
Implementing the Mediterranean Diet
If you want to implement the Mediterranean diet into your life, why not do what they did in Lyon?
If you cannot afford olive oil, use canola oil to cook with. It has fewer trans fats than tallow, lard, butter, or coconut oil and has a neutral flavor.
Make sure to have a fruit every day or two.
Use whole grains in your diet, be that for bread or just grains with your meals. Whole grains contain a lot of fiber.
New Course Coming
Thank you for listening to this edition of our series on how to adopt the Mediterranean Diet. We will have a course put together soon about adopting the Mediterranean diet, and you can find out when by listening to this podcast or signing up for my newsletter on terrysimpson.com. You can also follow me on TikTok, where I am @drterrysimpson.
Check out the blog associated with this – either yourdoctorsorders.com or forku.com.
This podcast was researched and written by me, Dr. Terry Simpson. While I am a real medical doctor, board-certified, I am not your doctor. Before making dietary changes, please check with a real, board-certified western-trained physician. Not an Eastern medicine doctor, not a witch doctor, not a chiropractor, not a naturopath.
Distribution and audio editing were done by my friends at Simpler Media – run by the pod god Evo Terra and his most able assistance. Thank you, Allie.
Hey Evo – in the interest of research, we need to go to the Mediterranean – by way of Lyon.
