Canola oil is everywhere, and I don’t like it. I try to minimize my intake. There’s something unnatural about an oil with such a high smoke point. If it doesn’t smoke until 475 degrees… how much energy does it take for your body to deal with it? Additionally, the Canola plant is a variant of the rapeseed plant, which contains erucic acid that (in high enough amounts) is very bad.
I get the allure. As Carl summarizes: it is a highly stable poly-unsaturated oil. This makes it ideal for applications where taste and shelf life are at issue. It is also cheap and with almost no taste (much less than olive oil and even less than peanut).
So… here’s my unsubstantiated thought process: your body can’t break this stuff down easily. Even though it’s a low-acid oil, can’t that erucic acid eventually build up over time?
I don’t really know. I’m just wary of anything that is slipped in everywhere. Trust me: canola is almost as ubiquitous as high fructose corn-syrup. Today, I spent an hour in Trader Joe’s reviewing the ingredient list for practically every store-bought salad dressing. Item #1, 2, or 3: Canola oil. I found a few without it, but what a chore! Plus, canola is the preferred oil for all of those “no-trans-fat” so-called “healthy” junk foods that the Ho-Ho Vegetarians consume all the time.
I just can’t buy the argument that this stuff is GOOD for us. I am not banning it completely, but am trying to minimize and avoid it. Am I crazy or prescient?
Labels: health