Canola Oil
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Canola oil comes from a variet of
rapeseed oil. But canola oil is not the same as rapeseed oil, which has
lots of erucic acid, a fatty acid that has caused tumors and cardiac
lesions in animal studies.
According to a FDA spokeswoman,
Canadians began a rapeseed-hybridization program in the 1960's to
reduce the oil's erucic-acid content, in hopes of marketing it as
edible oil.
By the late 1970's, they had developed what is
now known as canola, then called low erucic acid rapeseed oil. In 1985,
the FDA recognized that rapeseed oil with erucic acid levels below 2%
was generally recognized as safe. A few years later, the FDA agreed
that the name canola (derived from Canada and Oil) could be used on
labels.
Canola oil is the lowest in saturated fat of any
oil on the market, and second only to olive oil in its amount of
monosaturated fat. Studies have shown diets high in saturated fat
contribute to coronary heart disease by increasing blood cholesterol.
Monosaturated fats reduce blood cholesterol.
source: The Baltimore Sun
