Canola oil (Rapeseed oil)
Canola oil is made from rape seed, and like mustard seed, naturally contains ERUCIC acid
Unfortunately, this oil is usually refined to improve its taste, destroying its otherwise vital properties.
Canola is reasonably stable under frying heat
Refined oil has a smoke point of 400°F
ERUCIC Acid ERRONEOUSLY received a “bad, RAT rap” |
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On the strength of a study feeding rats ELUCIC acid, which gave them heart disease, the Canadian industry and government spent millions of dollars breeding a Low-Erucic Acid Rape seed and then marketing its oil (LEAR).However, it turns out that the same fate becomes rats when fed sunflower oil, and the ERUCIC acid wasn’t at fault after all!- Rats just don’t metabolize fats well, preferring low-fat grains and veggies! |
Much of the canola oil in the U.S. is GM
80% of Canada’s crop acreage is genetically modified for herbicide resistance. (Canola Council of Canada , retrieved 2007-10-20). In 2020, an estimated 93% or more of canola grown in the U.S. is GM.
"Lorenzo's Oil" halts progression of a fatal brain disease (ERUCIC acid to the rescue)
“Lorenzo’s Oil” is the title of a 1992 movie about a boy named Lorenzo Odone, who at 5 years old was diagnosed with a fatal brain condition (ALD) in which very long chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) were destroying his brain’s white matter. To normalize his brain fats, his father gave him specially-prepared oil containing monounsaturated 80% OLEIC acid and 20% ERUCIC acid, which halted the progression of the disease by inhibiting the enzyme needed to produce VLCFAs.
Sadly, one day after his 30th birthday in May 2008, Lorenzo died of aspiration pneumonia after getting food stuck in his lungs. He began breathing heavily, and died before an ambulance reached his home. He lived more than 20 years longer than doctors had predicted and was the oldest survivor of ALD.