Fwd: The Great Con-ola --exposing Canola Oil

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The Great Con-ola --exposing Canola Oil

 

-

Ingri Cassel

The Great Con-ola --exposing Canola Oil

 

 

 

Dear Members and Friends -

Many of you have asked me for more information on Canola oil and why it is so

bad for your health and nervous system. Below is an excellent and more recent

article than the one I have a hardcopy of. It was printed in the Nexus Magazine,

August-Sept. 2002.

 

~Ingri

 

 

The Great Con-ola

 

E-mail to a friend

 

By Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD

Canola oil is “widely recognized as the healthiest salad and cooking oil

available to consumers.” It was developed through hybridization of rape seed.

Rape seed oil is toxic because it contains significant amounts of a poisonous

substance called erucic acid.

Canola oil contains only trace amounts of erucic acid and its unique fatty acid

profile, rich in oleic acid and low in saturated fats, makes it particularly

beneficial for the prevention of heart disease. It also contains significant

amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, also shown to have health benefits. This is what

the food industry says about canola oil.

Canola oil is a poisonous substance, an industrial oil that does not belong in

the body. It contains “the infamous chemical warfare agent mustard gas,”

hemagglutinins and toxic cyanide-containing glycocides; it causes mad cow

disease, blindness, nervous disorders, clumping of blood cells and depression of

the immune system. This is what detractors say about canola oil.

How is the consumer to sort out the conflicting claims about canola oil? Is

canola oil a dream come true or a deadly poison? And why has canola captured so

large a share of the oils used in processed foods?

Hidden History

Let’s start with some history. The time period is the mid-1980s and the food

industry has a problem. In collusion with the American Heart Association,

numerous government agencies and departments of nutrition at major universities,

the industry had been promoting polyunsaturated oils as a heart-healthy

alternative to “artery-clogging” saturated fats.

Unfortunately, it had become increasingly clear that polyunsaturated oils,

particularly corn oil and soybean oil, cause numerous health problems, including

and especially cancer.1

The industry was in a bind. It could not continue using large amounts of liquid

polyunsaturated oils and make health claims about them in the face of mounting

evidence of their dangers. Nor could manufacturers return to using traditional

healthy saturates -- butter, lard, tallow, palm oil and coconut oil -- without

causing an uproar. Besides, these fats cost too much for the cut-throat profit

margins in the industry.

The solution was to embrace the use of monounsaturated oils, such as olive oil.

Studies had shown that olive oil has a “better” effect than polyunsaturated oils

on cholesterol levels and other blood parameters. Besides, Ancel Keys and other

promoters of the diet-heart idea had popularized the notion that the

Mediterranean diet -- rich in olive oil and conjuring up images of a carefree

existence on sun-drenched islands -- protected against heart disease and ensured

a long and healthy life.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) sponsored the First

Colloquium on Monounsaturates in Philadelphia. The meeting was chaired by Scott

Grundy, a prolific writer and apologist for the notion that cholesterol and

animal fats cause heart disease. Representatives from the edible oil industry,

including Unilever, were in attendance.

The Second Colloquium on Monounsaturates took place in Bethesda, Maryland, early

in 1987. Dr. Grundy was joined by Claude Lenfant, head of the NHLBI, and

speakers included Fred Mattson, who had spent many years at Proctor and Gamble,

and the Dutch scientist Martign Katan, who would later publish research on the

problems with trans fatty acids. It was at this time that articles extolling the

virtues of olive oil began to appear in the popular press.

Promotion of olive oil, which had a long history of use, seemed more

scientifically sound to the health-conscious consumer than the promotion of corn

and soy oil, which could only be extracted with modern stainless steel presses.

The problem for the industry was that there was not enough olive oil in the

world to meet its needs. And, like butter and other traditional fats, olive oil

was too expensive to use in most processed foods. The industry needed a less

expensive monounsaturated oil.

Rapeseed oil was a monounsaturated oil that had been used extensively in many

parts of the world, notably in China, Japan and India. It contains almost 60

percent monounsaturated fatty acids (compared to about 70 percent in olive oil).

Unfortunately, about two-thirds of the mono-unsaturated fatty acids in rapeseed

oil are erucic acid, a 22-carbon monounsaturated fatty acid that had been

associated with Keshan’s disease, characterized by fibrotic lesions of the

heart.

In the late 1970s, using a technique of genetic manipulation involving seed

splitting,2 Canadian plant breeders came up with a variety of rapeseed that

produced a monounsaturated oil low in 22-carbon erucic acid and high in

18-carbon oleic acid.

The new oil referred to as LEAR oil, for Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed, was slow to

catch on in the US. In 1986, Cargill announced the sale of LEAR oil seed to US

farmers and provided LEAR oil processing at its Riverside, North Dakota plant

but prices dropped and farmers took a hit.3

Marketing LEAR

Before LEAR oil could be promoted as a healthy alternative to polyunsaturated

oils, it needed a new name. Neither “rape” nor “lear” could be expected to

invoke a healthy image for the new “Cinderella” crop. In 1978, the industry

settled on “canola,” for “Canadian oil,” since most of the new rapeseed at that

time was grown in Canada.

“Canola” also sounded like “can do” and “payola,” both positive phrases in

marketing lingo. However, the new name did not come into widespread use until

the early 1990s.

An initial challenge for the Canola Council of Canada was the fact that rapeseed

was never given GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status by the US Food and

Drug Administration. A change in regulation would be necessary before canola

could be marketed in the US.4 Just how this was done has not been revealed, but

GRAS status was granted in 1985, for which, it is rumored; the Canadian

government spent $50 million to obtain.

Since canola was aimed at the growing numbers of health-conscious consumers,

rather than the junk food market, it required more subtle marketing techniques

than television advertising. The industry had managed to manipulate the science

to make a perfect match with canola oil -- very low in saturated fat and rich in

monounsaturates.

In addition, canola oil contains about 10 percent omega-3 fatty acids, the most

recent discovery of establishment nutritionists. Most Americans are deficient in

omega-3 fatty acids, which had been shown to be beneficial to the heart and

immune system. The challenge was to market this dream-come-true fatty acid

profile in a way that would appeal to educated consumers.

Canola oil began to appear in the recipes of cutting edge health books, such as

those by Andrew Weil and Barry Sears. The technique was to extol the virtues of

the Mediterranean diet and olive oil in the text, and then call for “olive oil

or canola oil” in the recipes. One informant in the publishing industry told us

that since the mid 1990s, major publishers would not accept cookbooks unless

they included canola in the recipes.

In 1997, Harper Collins engaged Dr. Artemis Simopoulos to write a cookbook

featuring the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids.5 Dr. Simopoulos was a

pediatrician who had served for nine years as chair of the Nutritional

Coordinating Committee of the National Institutes of Health before becoming

president of the Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health.

She had published several papers on omega-3 fatty acids, calling attention to

their disappearance from the food supply due to the industrialization of

agriculture. Her most famous paper, published in 1992 in the American Journal of

Clinical Nutrition, compared omega-3 levels in supermarket eggs from hens raised

on corn with eggs from hens allowed to roam and eat a more varied diet.6 The

more natural eggs contained twenty times more omega-3 than supermarket eggs.

Simopoulos’s The Omega Plan came out in 1998 and was reissued as The Omega Diet

in 1999. The book discusses the virtues of monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty

acids in the Mediterranean diet.7 Since unprocessed canola oil contains not only

lots of monoun-

saturated fatty acids, but also a significant amount of omega-3, it shows up in

most of the book’s recipes. Simopoulos claims that the Mediterranean diet is low

in saturated fat and recommends lean meat and lowfat yogurt and milk as part of

her regime.

The canola industry’s approach -- scientific conferences, promotion to upscale

consumers through books like The Omega Dietand articles in the health section of

newspapers and magazines -- was successful. By the late 1990s, canola use had

soared, and not just in the US.

Today China, Japan, Europe, Mexico, Bangladesh and Pakistan all buy significant

amounts. Canola does well in arid environments such as Australia and the

Canadian plains, where it has become a major cash crop. It is the oil of choice

in gourmet and health food markets like Fresh Fields (Whole Foods) markets, and

shows up in many supermarket items as well.

It is a commonly used oil in sterol-containing margarines and spreads

recommended for cholesterol lowering. Use of hydrogenated canola oil for frying

is increasing, especially in restaurants.

Dangers Overstated

Reports on the dangers of rapeseed oil are rampant on the internet, mostly

stemming from an article, “Blindness, Mad Cow Disease and Canola Oil,” by John

Thomas, which appeared in Perceptions magazine, March/April 1996. Some of the

claims are ludicrous. Although rape is a member of the brassica or mustard

family, it is not the source of mustard gas used in chemical warfare.

Glycosides or glycosinolates (compounds that produce sugars on hydrolysis) are

found in most members of the brassica family, including broccoli, kale, cabbage

and mustard greens. They contain sulfur (not arsenic), which is what gives

mustard and cruciferous vegetables their pungent flavor.

These compounds are goitrogenic and must be neutralized by cooking or

fermentation. As rapeseed meal was high in glycosides, it could not be used in

large amounts for animal feeding. However, plant breeders have been able to

breed out the glycosides as well as the erucic acid from canola oil.8 The result

is a low-glycoside meal that can be used as an animal feed. In fact, canola meal

for animal feed is an important Canadian export.

Hemagglutinins, substances that promote blood clotting and depress growth, are

found in the protein portion of the seed, although traces may show up in the

oil. And canola oil was not the cause of the mad cow epidemic in Britain9,

although feeding of canola oil may make cattle more susceptible to certain

diseases.

Like all fats and oils, rapeseed oil has industrial uses. It can be used as an

insecticide, a lubricant, a fuel and in soap, synthetic rubber and ink. Like

flax oil and walnut oil, it can be used to make varnish. Traditional fats like

coconut oil, olive oil and tallow also have industrial uses, but that does not

make them dangerous for human consumption.

We have had reports of allergies to canola, and internet articles describe a

variety of symptoms -- tremors, shaking, palsy, lack of coordination, slurred

speech, memory problems, blurred vision, problems with urination, numbness and

tingling in the extremities, and heart arrhythmias -- that cleared up on

discontinuance of canola. None of this has been reported in the medical

journals, however.

Writing for the Washington Post, Professor Robert L Wolke

(www.professorscience.com) chastises the publishers of these reports as

spreading “hysterical urban legends about bizarre diseases.”10 The industry

actually profits from such wild claims, because they are wrong and easily

dismissed.

Nevertheless, consumers do have reason to be cautious about the establishment’s

favorite oil, now showing up in an increasing number of products.

Continued Next Issue

 

The Great Con-ola was published in Nexus Magazine, Aug/September 2002 as well as

in Wise Traditions, the quarterly publication for the Weston A. Price

Foundation. To receive a free 12-page brochure containing Myths and Truths about

Nutrition and concise Dietary Guidelines, contact the Foundation at (202)

333-HEAL or westonaprice.

Sally Fallon is President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of

Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct

Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, NewTrends Publishing, 2000 (877-707-1776,

newtrendspublishing.com)

Mary G. Enig, PhD, FACN, is Vice President of the Weston A. Price Foundation,

President of the Maryland Nutritionists Association and author of Know Your

Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils and

Cholesterol, Bethesda Press, 2000 (301-680-8600, bethesdapress.com)

 

References: E-mail to a friend 1. MG Enig and SW Fallon. The Oiling of America.

www.westonaprice.org/oiling.htm

2. RK Downey. Genetic Control of Fatty Acid Biosnythesis in Rapeseed. Journal of

the American Oil Chemists Society, 1964;41:475-478.

3. Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, December 1986;63(12):1510.

4. Canola - a new oilseed from Canada. Journal of the American Oil

Chemists'Society, September 1981:723A-9A.

5. The amount of the advance was $350,000. Personal email communication, Jo

Robinson, co-author of The Omega Diet.

6. AP Simopoulos and N Salem, Jr. Egg yolk as a source of long-chain

polyunsaturated fatty acids in infant feeding. American Journal of Clinical

Nutrition, 1992;55

7. AP Simopoulos and J Robinson. The Omega Plan. Harper Collins Publishers, New

York, NY, 1998.

8. Canola - a new oilseed fromCanada. Journal of the American Oil

Chemists'Society, September 1981:723A-9A.

9. M Purdey. Educating Rita. Wise Traditions, Spring 2002;3(1):11-18.

10. When we contacted Dr. Wolke to provide him with evidence of canola dangers,

he was dismissive.

 

******************************

Ingri Cassel, President

Vaccination Liberation - Idaho Chapter

P.O. Box 1444

Coeur d'Alene, ID 83816

(208)255-2307/ 765-8421

vaclib

 

www.vaclib.org

" The Right to Know, The Freedom to Abstain "

 

 

 

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