“Healthy Monday is our way of kicking off the week with useful health tips, information or news put together by our team of Health Consultants.”
Canola Oil has been referred to as the “healthiest salad and cooking oil available to consumers,” in the last few years. However, this information may be rather flawed, as canola oil and other highly processed cooking oils actually endanger your health!
Canola oil which is commonly used as an ingredient in food products, such as mayonnaise, margarine and salad dressings rich is low in saturated fat content, has high amounts of monounsaturated oleic acid which according to studies is just as effective as polyunsaturated omega-3 fat in lowering plasma cholesterol levels. Additionally, Canola oil is also regarded as a good source of omega-3 fats, which is deficient in most Americans.
Now, let’s turn away from the benefits of Canola Oil as advertised by its maker and take an in-depth look into its unhealthy effects. Although the food industry ascribes a “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) status to Canola Oil, there has been no long-term human safety studies conducted on canola oil. Animal studies, however, contradict some of the health claims of the oil. In a 1997 Canadian research done on piglets fed with milk replacement with canola oil, the animals showed signs of vitamin E deficiency, even when the replacement contained adequate amount of the nutrient. Vitamin E Deficiency is however considered dangerous, because it can lead to cardiovascular problems and free radical damage. The researchers also found out a year later that the piglets fed canola oil had decreased platelet count and an increase in platelet size. This result was reconfirmed in another study in the following year.
Furthermore, the result of another animal test conducted on rats showed the animals ending up with high blood pressure, an increased risk for stroke and a shortened lifespan when their primary source of fat was from canola oil. Later studies showed that the possible cause for this health effects was that the sterol compounds in canola oil caused the cell membrane to become more rigid and contributed to the shorter lifespan of the animals used in this laboratory study.
But, the real negative impact of Canola Oil and other heated vegetable oils comes as a result of the damaging effect of heat on such oils. When you heat the Canola oil while using it to cook, the oil becomes unstable as it is unable to resist the heat damage introduced, which leads to the introduction of oxidized cholesterol and even more trans fat into your body. The negative side effect of this is that it puts you at risk for cancer and other cardiovascular diseases. Canola oil even becomes more dangerous when hydrogenated, as seen in commonly processed foods. In order to prolong the shelf life of processed foods, Manufacturers hydrogenate the oil but, unfortunately, this process exposes the consumers to even higher levels of trans fat.
So, if you are still using Canola oil for cooking, it is time to thrash it out and replace it with healthier oils that will be more beneficial to your health. Cocunut oil is probably the best option out there for cooking as it is resistant to heat damage, unlike canola oil and other vegetable oils. Coconut oil also contains beneficial fat like lauric acid, which has been proven to provide antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-protozoa properties. Olive oil is another beneficial oil which we will recommend, but the down side is that it should not be used for cooking as it is also highly sensitive to heat damage. Olive oil is best used cold in salads.
Have a healthy week!
