This is my first time on your website. You have a very nice smile, I must say. My main concern lies in the patterns that seem to be developing in the edorsements of products such as cooking oils by gov agencies, western health practitioners, etc. and the naturopathic ideologies coming to surface in rescent times. In ther words, the FDA vs Grandma, so to speak.

This whole debacle is in no way limited to oils, nevertheless, the confusion over whom to trust is overwhelming. But it does get easier to make descisions as the gov shoots themselves in the foot by telling me I need a flu vaccine ( yikes! have you heard the latest! ) Body scanning is harmless (Los Alamos studies are wrong when it leaked that back scatter rays rip apart DNA at the derma level?) The plume of smoke over So Cal was an airliner (Now they must think I’m really stupid. I’m a commercial pilot and I know what kind of smoke I leave behind.)

The lies are piling up on one side and the positive proof is surfacing on the other. I think Grandma will win this one unless BIG GOV slams and locks the door in her face. As for me, back to the fatty oils, such as coconut, almond, olive, and yes,even lard. Goodbye to canola and I’ll observe my health for a while. Much Love Melanie, Wayne

I agree with your statement about not vilifying foods, however I don’t really consider canola to be a food. It is a weed that has to be genetically modified to be non toxic. That’s why it is popular to produce, from what I understand birds and insects will not eat it because in it’s natural state it is poisonous to them.

Yes it is getting harder all the time to find foods that don’t include it. Besides foods being fried in it, It is in most breads products now. Imagine if you couldn’t eat 90% of all types of bread. Even salad croutons, not that I can eat salad when I’m out anyway because it’s most likely in the dressing. It makes it hard to get your grain intake. It’s in most cakes or pies and “junk” foods, not that I am a big fan, but it looks rediculous when I can’t eat my own birthday cake. Even in products that I never imagined like peanut butter, pickles and salsa. I already don’t eat red meat because now people are using canola meal feed so I’m not willing to take the risk.

Basically fish and fruit and veggies and hopefully soon more GMO free foods as they cannot use any genetically modified ingredients in their products. Unfortunately right now the list is only about four pages long, for basically everything on the market.

I have found a website where people with my problem can get a general guideline of what not to eat where due to their previous problems. They do updates when restaurants change to or from canola as an ingredient, although it is usually changing to. It helps greatly in the event I venture out to eat.

One thing that makes it VERY difficult to avoid is the fact that some makers of vegetable oil are now making a blend of veg and canola to cut costs, so if I asked if in house bread is made with canola, they will say “no, it’s vegetable”.

The thing that scares me about all this is that if you look at the FDA’s statement you have posted here, it says that 19 grams SHOULD be fine, but if you look at the product labels on foods today, they don’t even tell you HOW MUCH is in the food, so people could be eating two or three times that much daily and not even know it. Back then it was only even considered when frying foods, not when adding it to 70% of most food stuffs. Also according to the FDA’s website, the 8 “testing” groups they had only ate it for on average four weeks, and only via “food logs” which they presume people to be honest about. The longest group ate it in various foods for six months, but again only via food logs, so if they had any type of discomfort…. would they really truly know why?

I spent five years of my life trying to figure out what was causing me so much pain. Others I have read about spent ten or more years in similar situations, and were given various diagnoses ranging from IBS to Chron’s disease and various other “gastrointestinal disorders”. It makes me wonder what digestive people’s health will be like ten years from now.

You know what, since writing this article back in 2008, I’ve probably had a change of heart to some respects. I don’t like to vilify any food, personally I believe all things in moderation. But, I’m going to come back to this subject of oils soon.

Your symptoms sound terrible, do you find it difficult to avoid foods containing canola oil now?

I don’t care what the “experts” say, because frankly they haven’t bothered to study it. I have had food poisoning before and I relive the horrible agony every time I eat anything with canola in it. Chills, shakes, sweats, vomiting and diarrhea. I am not the only one. Go do a search for “I am allergic to canola” and not only will you find a slew of sites of HUMAN BEINGS being plagued by everything from respritory issues to the same troubles I have.

I don’t care if the FDA approved it to eat, my body tells me not to.

In reality, canola oil has been extensively researched and no sound scientific study has been able to prove a connection between canola and disease.

Early studies did seem to suggest a possible link between canola oil and toxicity in rats. However, further research confirmed that rats do not metabolize any oil well, and therefore don’t make good lipid research subjects.

Unfortunately these flawed studies continue to be cited over and over again to this day in error.

While canola oil has been singled out as having toxic properties, in truth any edible oil can be transformed into poison, depending on the techniques used for processing.

Rapeseed oil is high in erucic acid, a chemical that can become toxic in large enough amounts. But, canola plants have been bred to produce very little erucic acid and is therefore one of the healthier oils.

As with anything, moderation is the key, and I certainly do not advocate a high intake of any type of oil.