What Is Canola Oil? What are the Benefits?

by Abbas Jahangir · December 4, 2021

Canola oil is a highly controversial food with its positive effects on health as well as its harms. Care should be taken in the consumption of canola oil, and a doctor should be consulted to determine the required amount of consumption.

It is claimed that some canola oils used today are free of harmful substances. However, those who use canola oil should be very careful. When purchasing canola oil, it should be thoroughly examined, and canola oils that are free of harmful substances should be preferred. Otherwise, canola oil can cause serious harm to human health, especially heart diseases.

What Is Canola Oil?

The word canola is thought to be derived from the words Canada (Canada) and oil (ola) . Canola oil is obtained by processing the seeds of rapeseed plant breeding.
Rapeseed plant is also known as canola, rapiska or rapitsa in Turkey. The canola oil plant is a plant that animals usually stay away from because of the substances it contains.
First, canola oil was produced in Canada, then spread to many parts of the world. Today, it is mostly produced in China and India.
When canola oil was first produced, it was used as a machine oil. Later, besides vegetable oils such as olive oil and sunflower oil, canola oil took its place on the shelves. However, canola oil is different from other vegetable oils due to its structure.

What Are the Properties of Canola Oil?

Canola oil is very rich in nutritional value. The canola plant has two distinct physiological periods, summer and winter. The nutritional contents of canola oil grown in these two periods are also different from each other. 38-50% of the seed of the canola plant is oil and 16-24% is protein.
Efforts are being made to remove the erucic acid found in canola oil, which is known to be harmful to human health, from the rapeseed plant.
Canola oil can remain intact up to 200 degrees Celsius. Canola oil has almost no odor and taste, and its color is quite light. If stored in a place out of direct sunlight, it can remain intact for one year.
Does canola oil freeze? The freezing point of canola oil is -10. For this reason, it is better to store it in a cool place rather than a high-set refrigerator or freezer.
Is canola oil halal? Canola oil is not considered to contain any religiously prohibited substances. However, if future studies prove that canola oil threatens human health, consumption of this oil should be avoided. More detailed information on this subject can be obtained from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Does canola oil make you slimmer? Canola oil can be preferred by dieters because of its high unsaturated fat content and low saturated fat content. However, its consumption should not be overdone.

Where Does Canola Grow?

The rapeseed plant, from which canola oil is obtained, is a cruciferous plant. It has yellow flowers. The canola plant adapts to almost all climatic conditions and yields fast.
Canola oil producers claim that production of canola oil is relatively effortless when compared to sunflower or olive oil production.
Canola oil can be grown in many places such as France, Germany, England and Pakistan, especially in China, India and Canada. This plant, which came to Turkey from the Balkans, is cultivated in Turkey and canola oil is produced in the Thrace region.

What Are the Benefits of Canola Oil?

Canola oil is known to have many health benefits. What does canola oil do?

The nutritional value of canola oil is quite high.
It contains plenty of Omega 3, an important fatty acid that cannot be produced by the human body and must be taken from outside, which helps to lower cholesterol and lowers the risk of heart attack. It also has a very good Omega 3 – Omega 6 balance.
Canola oil contains vitamins A, D, E, and K. Thanks to the vitamin E in canola oil, it is anti-carcinogenic and antioxidant.
It is said to be effective in the treatment of rickets.
Consumption of canola oil helps strengthen the immune system.
Canola oil plays a positive role in the growth and development of children.
Canola oil contains a high percentage of unsaturated fatty acids and a low percentage of saturated fatty acids.

Is Canola Oil Harmful?

Studies have shown that canola oil has both benefits and harms. Canola oil Canan Karatay also said that canola oil is quite dangerous.
Harmful substances in the rapeseed plant and canola oil produced from the seed obtained from this plant can threaten human health.
Due to the harmful substances in the rapeseed plant, the use of this plant as animal feed causes serious harm to animals.
Recent studies on animals confirm this. It is even thought that rapeseed plant has a direct or indirect effect on mad cow disease, which was an epidemic for a period and affected cattle.
There are some harmful substances found in the rapeseed plant in the canola oil obtained by processing the seeds of the rapeseed plant.
One of the biggest known harms of canola oil is that it causes heart failure.
The rapeseed plant, from which canola oil is obtained, contains substances harmful to human health such as erucic acid and glucosinolate.
Erucic acid damages the nervous system and circulatory system and can cause cell deformation. Therefore, great care must be taken at all stages of the production of canola oil.
Before the canola oil is ready for use, it must be purified from harmful substances.
Consumption of canola oil, which is not free from harmful substances, can have side effects such as constipation, fatigue, heart problems.
It is also said that during the production of canola oil, the harmful properties of the rapeseed plant are altered due to its harmful properties. The seeds from which some canola oils are obtained have been genetically modified.
Others have been produced by crossing, minimizing their harmful effects. Oils obtained from genetically modified seeds are very harmful to human health. For this reason, seeds that are not produced in this way should be preferred in the production of canola oil.

Where Is Canola Oil Used?

Canola oil has many uses today. In addition to being used as food, it is used in decoration and cosmetic products or as industrial oil.
Instead of using petroleum-derived products, using canola oil in products such as lipstick and lip balm is preferred because it is healthier.
Similarly, canola oil is used in the manufacture of candles. In addition to these, it is known that canola oil is also used as a biofuel.
Another area of use for canola oil is ink making. In addition, canola oil is frequently used as a frying oil or in preserves, as it is highly resistant to heat compared to many other vegetable oils.