Is canola oil beneficial?

I wouldn't have expected canola oil to beat out OO. I don't take either of them.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/331...

[pjoshea13]

The USDA Database is a useful resource [1].

Canola oil fatty acids:

18:1 - 62% - Oleic acid, as in olive oil (71%)

18:2 - 19% - Linoleic acid - an omega-6 - olive oil is 10%

18:3 - 9% - alpha-Linolenic acid - an unfavorable omega-3 - olive oil is 1%

Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) 17.46 mg - olive oil has 14.35

Vitamin K (phylloquinone) 71.3 µg - olive oil has 60.2

Note that one PCa study that implicated 18:3 in aggressive cancer, reported that the risk was lowered as 18:2 increased. Ironically, the "bad" omega-6 protected against the "good" omega-3.

-Patrick

[1] fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.ht...

[pjoshea13 in reply to pjoshea13]

I should have added that although the study was not about PCa ...

{The effects of Canola oil on cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis with dose-response analysis of controlled clinical trials}

... men with PCa famously have higher CVD risks, so it does have relevance IMO.

Oddly, this Iranian study had an assist from Canadian Scott C. Forbes. Is it a coincidence that the "Can" in canola is short for "Canada".

[Hidden in reply to pjoshea13]

Canola Forbes? An oily businessman?

[Gearhead in reply to pjoshea13]

Most oils are of course named after their source, e.g., olive oil. But rapeseed oil doesn't have a good marketing sound, so they called it canola oil.

[pjoshea13 in reply to Gearhead]

The problem with wild-type rapeseed is that it is high in Erucic acid. Birds will not eat it.

The Canadians developed a form of rapeseed that would produce oil with <2% erucic acid & that is considered to be harmess to humans. Even so ...

Less known part of the specs:

"the solid component shall contain less than 30 micromoles of any one or any mixture of 3-butenyl glucosinolate, 4-pentenyl glucosinolate, 2-hydroxy-3 butenyl glucosinolate, and 2-hydroxy- 4-pentenyl glucosinolate per gram of air-dry, oil-free solid."

[cesces]

Because of arachnoidic acid issues, Dr. Myers always considered canola oil to be like kryptonite to prostate cancer patients.

He said the safest oils, for prostate cancer patients, were olive, avocado and almond.

[MateoBeach in reply to cesces]

Canola oil being predominant in the Omega 3 side such as alpha-linolenic acid which does not follow the pro-inflammatory arachidonic acid pathway. So that should be just fine. I favor a mix of Canola and EVOO in my own diet.

herbscientist.com/vegetable...

[cesces in reply to MateoBeach]

Myers was quite opinionated about this.

I never quite understood this issue.

But olive, avocado oil and almonds (as opposed to walnuts) are easy to handle as a no risk options for me.

I'm see no upside for me to second guess something he felt so strongly about.