06/10/2024
One of the most popular cooking oils today was originally designed to lubricate ENGINES!
This is REAL history…
Canola oil is derived from the seeds of the r**e plant – it's r**e seed oil.
BUT it was originally developed in World War II to lubricate ships and steam engines because the oil sticks to wet metal…
During World War II the United States needed to build a lot of ships and we didn't really have enough of this r**e seed oil to lubricate the parts that were going to get wet so the US government asked Canada to increase their production of r**e seed oil to help with the war effort.
But at the end of World War II, demand for this r**e seed oil dropped precipitously and Canada needed to find a way to keep selling something it had put so many resources into producing in high amounts…
The problem? This unmodified r**e seed oil is TOXIC FOR HUMANS and contains a significant amount of a monounsaturated fat called Erucic acid which seems to be damaging for the heart and strongly associated with heart lesions…
However, in 1980 scientists finally succeeded in genetically modifying the seeds from these r**eseed plants to make their oil significantly lower in Erucic acid…
…And Voila! Canola oil was born.
Canola oil is actually an acronym for Canadia Oil Low Acid.
That’s right… there’s no such thing as a “canola plant” that was made up by the Canola Association 😲
Ultimately, it’s just a r**eseed plant - and r**eseed plants have NEVER been food for humans.
Think about it…
If we have to take Erucic acid out of a plant… why are we making an “edible oil” out of that plant in the first place?
Now, Canola is one of the most widely consumed oils on the planet today – ESPECIALLY in the United States.
This stuff is in everything from salad dressings to baked goods…
And if you listen to mainstream Health authorities or the American College of Cardiology they'll tell you this oil is “heart healthy”
But I beg to differ…
Why? Well, the problem with canola oil and other seed oils is that in order to get these oils from the seeds of plants they must be highly refined and exposed to many extracting agents that are carcinogenic like Benzene Hexane and heated to high temperatures leading to oxidation of these fragile oils.
Now, maybe you've heard how these oils lower LDL... that might be true.
But they also RAISE the amount of OXIDIZED LDL (OxLDL) which is really the atherosclerotic form of LDL.. and there is research suggesting that atherosclerosis CANNOT occur without this (PMID: 18625445).
Many human studies have shown how these oils can cause inflammation and increase heart disease risk too (PMID: 28503188, 8432867, 2008870 and many more)...
There are also multiple studies in both animal and human models showing clearly that seed oils like canola oil are harmful for us – contributing to oxidate stress, weight gain, and even possibly neurological damage (PMID: 10452406; PMID: 29215028)
Furthermore, these oxidized oils contain between 1.9 and 3.6% trans fatty acids which are formed in the process of heating and hydrogenation…
Maybe that doesn’t quite exceed thresholds, but do you want to eat an oil that's 1.9 to 3.6% trans fatty acids? Definitely not!
I don’t think ANYONE would debate the severely negative associations between trans fats and human health… even Ansel Keys himself was the one who discovered that trans fatty acids raise LDL and there is a ton of research following his own findings (PMID: 25684416).
Bottom line: these oils are toxic in so many different ways so don't be fooled by propaganda here or what you're told by mainstream health authorities - they’re harmful for humans and should NEVER have become part of our food supply.
In fact, I don't even think of them as food. The only thing they're good for is engine lubricants and that's the way they should stay!
Now, I get it's not easy to COMPLETELY avoid seed oils in today's world.
But making the effort to cut them out can have a MASSIVE impact on your health.
Stick to stable, natural animal fats that humans have been consuming for HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of years like grass-fed tallow, butter and ghee (coconut oil is OK too… but not my first choice).
Animal fats (particularly from grass-fed sources) are rich in highly beneficial nutrients like vitamin E, K2, Omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and Stearic Acid.
They have a lower peroxidation index too. What does this mean? The peroxidation index gives a score to a cooking fat based on how likely it is to oxidize. The higher it is on the index, the more likely it is to oxidize.
Alright, that wraps it up!
If you weren’t already fully convinced you should avoid seed oils like the plague, hopefully now you are!
