Canola Oil

What is Canola Oil?

Canola is not the name of a natural plant but a made-up word, from the words "Canada" and "oil". Canola is a genetically engineered plant developed in Canada from the Rapeseed Plant, which is part of the mustard family of plants.

Canola oil is marketed as vegetable oil for cooking and use in salads. It has a bad reputation since it is sometimes thought to be made from rapeseed oil. This used to happen many years ago but canola oil is now made from a plant developed from rapeseed oil.

Canola oil has very low saturated fatty acid and as high as 60% monounsaturated fatty acid with added goodness of omega-3 fatty acid, making the oil healthier then the other oils.

Canola oil is considered one of the most heart healthy oil as it has the highest ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats. Canola oil is also believed to decrease the total cholesterol levels, reduce serum triglycerides and prevent the platelets from sticking to each other.

Canola oil is a vitamin E source and provides appreciable amounts of vitamin E (1 tbsp provides 2.9 mg of vitamin E). Canola oil is also good vitamin K source and helps inhibit thrombosis.

Side Effects and Warnings of Canola Oil

Canola oil, taken as a part of a well balanced diet, does not cause any side effects. However, researchers now understand that an excess of omega-6 EFA's in the diet increases the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and obesity.

Canola oil is not recommended along with other blood thinning drugs or supplements.

You should always contact your medical practitioner before you use Canola oil supplements. This is especially true as more research shows that the safety of Canola oil needs to be further investigated.

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