Food safety and health effects of canola oil.

Abstract

Canola oil is a newly marketed vegetable oil for use in salads and for cooking that contains 55% of the monounsaturated fatty acid; oleic acid, 25% linoleic acid and 10% alpha-linolenate [polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)], and only 4% of the saturated fatty acids (SFAs) that have been implicated as factors in hypercholesterolemia. It is expressed from a cultivar of rapeseed that was selectively bred from old varieties in Canada to be very low in erucic acid--a fatty acid suspected to have pathogenic potential in diets high in the original rapeseed oil in experimental animals. Canola oil is free of those problems. It is the most widely consumed food oil in Canada, and has been approved for Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) status by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The fatty acid composition of canola oil is consistent with its use as a substitute for SFAs, in meeting the dietary goals recommended by many health associations: an average diet containing about 30% of calories as fat made up of less than 10% SFAs, 8-10% PUFAs in a ratio of linoleic to linolenic acids between 4:1 and 10:1, the remainder being monounsaturated fatty acids. No single oil meets these current recommendations for ratios of PUFA/monounsaturated/polyunsaturated fatty acid ratios as the sole source of cooking and salad oil.

Effects of a monounsaturated rapeseed oil and a polyunsaturated sunflower oil diet on lipoprotein levels in humans.

“…oleifera DC; the breakdown of its fatty acids was as follows: 5% saturates, 58% monounsaturates, 24% n-6 polyunsaturates, and 13% n-3 polyunsaturates), which is equivalent to the so-called canola oil, 16 and high linoleic acid sunflower oil (Helianthus annuus, which has a fatty acid content of 12% saturates, 23% monounsaturates, 65% n-6 polyunsaturates, and only traces of n-3 polyunsaturates). Both were provided by the Finnish Unilever Company Paasivaara, Helsinki, Finland.…”

Enhanced Seed Oil Production in Canola by Conditional Expression of Brassica napus LEAFY COTYLEDON1 and LEC1-LIKE in Developing Seeds

“…xls). Canola oil is of high nutritional value with high concentrations of unsaturated C18 fatty acids (FAs; .60%) and a low level of erucic acid (C22:1; ,1%), an undesirable FA in edible oil (Harvey and Downey, 1964;Dupont et al, 1989). Moreover, vegetable oil is a suitable source for biodiesel fuels and important raw materials in industry (Ohlrogge, 1994;Thelen and Ohlrogge, 2002).…”

Perspectives on the use of seed oils in the South African diet

“…This was carried out so as to derive benefit from this seed oil's favourable fatty acid composition [55% of MUFA (oleic acid), 25% linoleic acid, 10% α-linolenic acid and only 4% SFA]. 23 Therefore, canola is not genetically modified, and neither is the canola, olive or sunflower plants used for oil production in South Africa, as discussed by Opperman et al 1 The natural trans-fat content of seed oils is almost negligible. 1,3,24 However, during the refining of oils, and depending on the applied deodorisation conditions, trans-fatty acids can be formed, but generally, the total trans-fat content remains below 1%, 25 as also confirmed for several brands of South African olive, sunflower and canola oils by Opperman et al 1 The trans-fat content of oil may also increase when used for an excessive time at high frying temperatures, 26 but the formation of trans-fat during frying is highly dependent on the type of oil used, temperature, total frying time, and how often the oil is replaced or replenished.…”