Seed Oils: Health Issues and Lack of Safety Studies -- Especially With Canola / Rapeseed Oil

By: Joel v.d. Reijden | Date: May 4, 2024 | Health Center.

Contents

^^

Observations

Nausea and other reported health issues of seed oil

Looking around, a lot of people report getting nauseous from seed oils. Not just rapeseed/canola oil, as I personally have been suspecting for myself, but also other seed oils. A lot more issues are being reported as well:

• Brain fog.
• Heart palpitations.
• Joint pain.
• IBS.
• Eczema.
• Acne.
• Insomnia.
• Teeth that hurt.

Nausea-testing croissants, pizza, ketchup, cookies, and other processed foods

It seems I'm lucky it is only limited to general nausea, and certainly doesn't happen with each and every seed oil-containing food. Living in Europe, I have mainly been suspecting rapeseed oil (as canola oil is still called in the Netherlands), which seems to be in just about everything. But in all fairness, the regular nausea is not just limited to rapeseed. Considering there's a shocking lack of studies with regard to vegetable and seed oils, despite having been put into everything, let's start with a few personal experiences first. We'll get to the science later.

1. McDonalds hamburgers / mayonnaise / ketchup: Anybody who has eaten hamburgers at McDonalds, or even made them him- or herself, might want to test how the body feels with a lot of (seed and vegetable oil-containing) sauces versus maybe purely natural handmade mayonnaise (extra virgin olive oil plus raw eggs), or tomato sauce. You may find that the nauseating feeling after eating a number of burgers wasn't due to the meat after all... Certainly any handmade sauce from natural components will make your body feel many times better than typically supermarket-bought bottled sauces. Even the biological tomato ketchup and mayonnaise make me feel nauseous when eating them for two or three days in a row. Sure, by that time, the bottle or pot likely is over half empty, but if these are natural products - tomato, eggs, cold-pressed olive oil - that really isn't a problem. But with processed stuff it is. Always.
   
   Checking the labels, the ordinary mayonnaise products I used contained 68-75% canola/rapeseed oil, with about 10% sugar. I seldom buy any mayonnaise with more sugar than that. The biological mayonnaise contained 80% sunflower oil and no sugar. In that case it took a few more days to get that, "This is not healthy"-feeling, but it still became an issue. My body also wasn't exactly vibrating with "aliveness" after eating it.
   
   For ketchup I always try to buy the one with as little sugar as possible. I thought I bought one with pure stevia, but it appears I bought one with 50% sugar, and the rest replaced with stevia. Looking at the ingredients list, there are no seed oils in it. Only some sugar. Who knows what the quality of the tomato sauce in it is, but I'm not sure what causes the nausea when I eat even a little bit too much ketchup. It's definitely less though than with traditional full-on sugar-containing ketchups.


2. Croissants: The same is true for home-made versus supermarket-bought croissants. I love eating the latter - often from Albert Heijn - with strawberries or butter and cheese, but if I eat a 4-pack for four or five days in a row, my whole body starts feeling nauseous right after eating them. It is even worse with some of the ham-cheese croissants. I get a nauseating feeling from just one, to the point I often can barely finish the first. Checking the ingredients lists for the first time, it turns out that the ham-cheese ones not only contain at least 6% palm-, rapeseed-, and sunflower oil, but also more maltodextrin than sugar. No wonder I have always gotten instantly nauseous.
   
   The "petit croissants" Albert Heijn bakes itself, at least today, are based on actual butter and contain far fewer bad ingredients, including zero maltodextrin. I'm not sure that the butter can deal with the heat, but it also explains why I have always been able to eat these croissants for much longer before getting nauseous.


3. Supermarket-bought pizza Hawaii: Same thing. I love myself a pizza Hawaii for 1 euro 50 cents. But you feel a little nauseous after, even though all the ingredients are supposed to be healthy, and can be eaten without issue in a fully organic session. Funny detail: the only way to really ruin my intestines for a number of hours is eating a supermarket pizza followed by a package of cookies. I'll be constipated in no time with serious cramps, followed by diarrhea. It's the magic formula. But why is that? Isn't the pizza supposed to be healthy?
   
   Even without the cookies, eat these supermarket Pizza Hawaii's multiple days in a row and that mild nauseating feeling gets worse. I always add a boatload of extra cheese and some spinach, with the latter in the last 2-3 minutes. At the end I may add some fresh garlic. It all makes the pizza feel so much more alive and healthy. But it is clear that there is something "bad" still in there.
   
   Let's check the ingredients list: About 5-6% rapeseed oil. Then there is quite a bit of sugar in there, which could well also be the main culprit. The quality of the tomato sauce might be an issue too.


4. Potato chips: I like unflavored potato chips (because flavoring adds all kinds of not-so-great additives the ingredient lists make clear), as these days it has very little transfats. Always eating a sizable bag at once, these do not make me feel nauseous at all. Checking the ingredients lists, it's very straight-forward: 68% potato, 31% sunflower oil, 1% salt.
   
   As an update though, I have to say that these potato chips do seem to be causing some temporary teeth sensitivity with me. The surface of the teeth also feels a bit more rough or sticky after eating a (large) bag. It's only something that I started noticing after having written this article, and being aware that teeth sensitivity is a symptom associated with seed oils.


5. Cookies: All the cookies I sometimes buy, but always regret (because they make me nauseous before I empty the box), contain a mix of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, mostly palm oil, sometimes also canola oil (sometimes named "koolzaadolie"), and gluten. You're talking about "roze koeken" ("pink cake"), "mergpijpjes" ("chocolate marzipan rolls"), and others along those lines.
   
   Comparing this to cookies I much more often buy, because they don't, or barely, make me feel nauseous, these happen to be butter and sugar-based. In fact, it turns out they fall into a category called "chocolate butter biscuits". Checking another supermarket, where I buy similar biscuits from a different brand, it's the same thing: they are butter-based and have not a drop of vegetable oil in them. These do have a bit of glucose syrup in them on top of sugar, but I know these are not really making me nauseous.
   
   As a test, I also bought some traditional "kokosmakronen" (kokosmakron). I have to say, having eaten two different packages of 6 large such cookies a day, several times a week, they don't make me nauseous at all. They don't necessarily feel "healthy", and they did give me some minor gas, but they feel much better than other cookies. Checking the ingredients, there are no vegetable oils in them. The key ingredients, in order from largest to smallest content, are sugar, about 30% cocos, egg-white, glucose-fructose syrup, and flower. That is way too much sugar and glucose-fructose syrup, but those again seem to be less bad than anything with vegetable oil added.

Making these quick observations, and maybe having to do a few more specific tests, I have to say that vegetable oils very often do seem to be a major culprit in making "pleasure foods" much more unhealthy compared to traditional, animal-based butter. The butter-based "petit croissants", the butter-based "chocolate biscuits", and the non-seed oil kokosmakrons: my body clearly likes them better. It's not perfect, but I can probably eat 50 to 100% more before I start to feel nauseous - possibly more with the kokosmakrons. If there is enough sugar in something though, sooner or later you won't feel so great.

Not all vegetable or seed oils are the same. But what exactly is the issue? The combination with sugar? (there's some speculation that sugar and rancid fats together lead to a lot of arterial plaque) Some seed oils being rancid once they have been processed a second time into various supermarket items? Or are they simply less good for the body? Hard to say at this point.

As said, I may need to do some more tests, and some more research. I actually tried to do it, but in the local supermarket I couldn't find a single mayonnaise brand anymore with anything else than (cheap) rapeseed/canola oil, even in the very expensive "natural" products. All olive oil and sunflower oil products were gone. We'll do the tests though, some day.

^^

Studies

Seed/vegetable oils not as healthy as animal fat - it appears

Studies do exist that a seed oil as corn oil protects organs in the body much less than pig fat and beef fat. 1 Some worries have also been raised that our body's fat composition has been changing due all the vegetable and seed oils introduced into out diet. Polyunsaturated omega-6 fat in our "adipose tissue [has] increased from 9.1% in 1959 to 21.5% in 2008, representing a 136% increase." 2 The half-time of this fat is two years 3, meaning that if this fat indeed happens to be bad for us, as has been suspected by some researchers and some studies appear to reveal 4, that, in contrast to sugar, we are stuck with it for a long time.

The health aspects of seed oils still needs to be researched by this author in more detail. In brief, even when the oils are not heated upon extraction, the (alternative) idea is that a lot of these seed oils simply aren't healthy for the human body - and that animal fat actually is. Extra virgin olive oil - which is cold pressed - is one of the exceptions and is considered healthy, at least in low daily amounts. Coconut oil might be really good too.

The seed/vegetable fat versus animal fat debate largely comes down to the age old arguments of the 1950s research by Ancel Keys and its subsequent Weston Price Foundation critics. Central here too is the debate whether forcing down low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or "bad cholesterol" with vegetable and seed oils by itself actually lowers the chance of heart disease and diabetes, or whether high or higher levels of LDL aren't necessarily bad at all and a whole host of blood values need to be taken into account - or the intake of sugar combined with fat. Popular YouTubers Dr. Sten Ekberg 5 and Dr. Eric Berg 6 have the latter position, and the reader is referred to those sources, as well as the Weston Price Foundation, for the time being.

Rapeseed/canola oil: no proof it's safe after half a century - yet allowed in every food

Rapeseed/canola oil is an interesting history to discuss all by itself, considering there is a huge conspiracy on "not doing research" surrounding it, despite it being in thousands of food products in the West.

Maybe a first thing that needs to said is that, quite predictably by now, the main producers of this oil are globalist companies Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, with BASF, Bayer / Monsanto, and DuPont being other main ones. 7 Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill also are international giants with the production of soybean and other seed oils. 8

Vegetable and seed oil science is interesting - because good research seems to be non-existent. There's just a top-down dogma being pushed - in line with vegan globalist agenda - that unsaturated fats, including polyunsaturated fats, are healthy. Rapeseed oil (canola) is a perfect example. Early on in trying to find complaints about it, I read an extensive post on Reddit by someone saying, "There have been no -- no -- studies that demonstrate [rapeseed/canola oil] is safe for human consumption." 9

You start digging into it and, indeed, you just can't find any useful studies showing that Canola is safe, despite it having been pushed into thousands of different products in the West. In fact, you can find studies from 1975 concluding it leads to "a growth retarding effect in animals ... fatty infiltration in the heart muscle cells [and] fibrosis of the myocardium." 10

The formal story is that this was purely the result of rapeseed oil naturally containing erucic acid. So this was bred out, and now we all have to assume canola oil is safe - without any re-testing having been done. Apart from that, anybody who looks at the study that documented the heart issue effects 11, can see that erucic acid doesn't appear to have been the only factor at play. Not only does there need to be an explanation why the results for 5% and 25% erucic acid were largely identical, we also see that (almost) each time rapeseed oil was refined, the amount of cardiac lesions went up:

Surely they put out extra studies. It's been almost half a century - you assume. But no. Apparently, already in the 1960s, Canada, which started using rapeseed oil for motor oil during World War II, had bred versions of rapeseed with just 2% erucic acid. 12 And they started selling this under the name "canola" (Canada oil) to the world - with everybody simply having to assume that the oil is "safe now", because, "Look, high polyunsaturated fatty acids," "Look, omega 3s," "Look, almost no erucic acid." Most "studies" of canola, revolve around these central, universal assumptions. Look also, for example, at the segment the Discovery Channel did in 2010 on the (extensive) extraction, bleaching, and deodorizing process of Canola oil. At the start - which is heavily ridiculed in the comments - it simple concludes:

"Canola oil is one of the healthiest cooking oils. Compared to olive, sunflower, and soybean oils, it has the lowest level of saturated fat... and more healthy omega 3 fatty acids and is high in monounsaturated fat, which lowers cholesterol." 13

Where's the science? It doesn't exist, not in any direct sense.

Sponsored "research" of rapeseed/canola oil, and suppression of critical studies showing heart lesions and Alzheimer's

You look at Wikipedia anno 2024 for rapeseed or canola oil and the studies from 1975 showing heart lesions aren't referred to, nor is a 2017 one stating (very modern) canola oil is linked to brain deterioration. 14 Instead, prominently and shamelessly plugged is a 2013 study "sponsored by the Canola Council of Canada and the U.S. Canola Association" obviously demonstrating that canola oil is great for anything heart health and diabetes related, and "can now be regarded as one of the healthiest edible vegetable oils". All I can say is that all the different, multifaceted diets and tables included in the study are too complex to even bother to make sense of. 15 If they really wanted to convince the public that canola is that safe and healthy, they could have set up a much easier-to-understand study, and included a few clear graphs.

The next portion of the Wikipedia article reads:

"A 2014 review of health effects from consuming plant oils rich in alpha-linolenic acid, including canola, stated that there was moderate benefit for lower risk of cardiovascular diseases, bone fractures, and type-2 diabetes.[48]" 16

This sentence is a carefully crafted piece of propaganda. The funding of the linked study is unknown and canola oil is barely mentioned, although it does indeed say:

"The total- and LDL-cholesterol–lowering effects of ALA are well documented in studies that used walnuts (27), flaxseed (28), or rapeseed/canola oil (29)..." 17

Considering the paper, which is focused on the plant-based form of omega 3, doesn't mention anything else, we check endnote 29. Turns out, this study, apart from a control, involved three mixes of oils, in which rapeseed oil/canola respectively constituted 11.5%, 9% and 52.5%. As usual with canola, the study doesn't show much of interest at all, but what is certain is that the group with 52.5% rapeseed oil/canola essentially showed no changed values compared to the control group. 18

So what do we have? Absolutely nothing, obfuscation with a bit of propaganda. I think most readers of ISGP know better than to try to adjust "facts" on Wikipedia when it involves big interests. Apart from Wikipedia's "liberal CIA" origins, look at what happened to this author's 1001 Club membership photocopies, which were the first to be published. They were just removed, and kept off, from the relevant Wikipedia page.

So next, you look at Google Scholar:

• The first article you run into is the incomprehensible 2013 one just mentioned in relation to Wikipedia, where it proudly is admitted to have been "sponsored by the Canola Council of Canada and the U.S. Canola Association". 19
• The second article you find has has been funded by the Canadian and Chinese governments, the two largest producers of Canola oil in the world. In particular, this study was funded by Genome Canada 20, a pro-GMO government group partnered with the Bill Gates Foundation and various corporations as Shell, the Suncor petroleum firm, and Alamos Gold, looking at its various boards. 21
• The third study I clicked on also was sponsored by the Canadian government, as well as "Richardson Oilseed Limited [and] Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 22
• A fourth study, which only compares canola oil to corn oil, is funded and produced by "Nuseed®" and "employees of Nutrasource Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Services Inc." 23
• A fifth study, from 2008, which only compared canola and sunflower, is one of a number canola-tied studies financed by "Fondo Balli" in Switzerland. 24 I am unable to find out what this group is or was. Maybe it even operated as some kind of front for bigger interests.

These studies also are extremely limited, superficial, and often very theoretical. It's not like they do any actual long or short-term studies on humans or rats. So much was admitted in an independent study from 2014, 39 years after serious health issues were documented with canola:

"Evidence for RO [Rapeseed Oil] is limited to short-term studies on the biomarkers of risk factors for CVD. Any benefits of RO [rapeseed oil] are likely to be due to α-linolenic acid; however, it is prone to oxidation during frying. We conclude that due to a lack of evidence from observational or intervention studies indicating that RO [rapeseed oil] has comparable health benefits to extra-virgin OO [olive oil], RO [rapeseed oil] cannot currently be recommended as a suitable substitute for extra-virgin OO [olive oil] as part of a Mediterranean-style diet." 25

A few additional independent studies that this author found and were published after the conclusion above was drawn, actually demonstrate that rapeseed oil loses out to (refined) sesame oil 26 and even severely to (refined) olive oil, in the latter case in terms of lowering triglycerides and LDL in human subject. 27 I.e. it loses out in the much-touted "heart health" benefits. That is not all. Just one, lone, "rogue" 2017 study testing olive oil and canola oil with regard to Alzheimer's development, showed that canola oil greatly deteriorates brain health, while olive oil does not. 28

Any type of government or European Union-level response? No, crickets.

Positive rapeseed/canola oil studies?

Well, yes and no. Immediately after writing the original version of this Canola oil chapter, YouTube suggestions of interviews with Dr. Alan Flanagan, a lawyer-turned-nutrition expert, popped up. Immediately Dr. Flanagan appeared to shoot some holes through my conclusions that olive oil comes out better than canola oil.

He talked about a November 2020 Iranian meta-analysis that analyzed 42 past studies of canola oil versus sunflower and olive oil. How many of these studies were funded by big interests is unknown, as only an abstract is publicly available. But in comparison to saturated fat (again, exact sources and diet constituencies unknown), LDL-C was lowered by -0.49 mmol/l. Compared to olive oil, canola oil gave -0.17 mmol/l lower values, and in case of sunflower oil, it was -0.14mmol/l. 29 So going by these metrics, all of a sudden olive oil is worse than both canola and sunflower oil.

A second study he mentioned was published in January 2021. It also shows canola oil is better in every way than olive oil, except maybe for triglyceride values, when looking at blood values. With Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) levels, canola blows olive oil out of the water: 38.1 versus 45.6, with sunflower oil at 42.5. Lower values allow for more free testosterone, and is often desired by men. In case of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) values, olive oil actually edged out canola oil by a tiny margin, with sunflower oil not improving any of the subjects' values. 30

Of government and Unilever

With Dr. Alan Flanagan, there are instant red flags though. He comes across as a heavy, dogmatic pusher not just of vegetable oils, but very specifically of canola oil. A quick check reveals that not only has he dedicated his life to formal education in a pretty impressive manner, he's actually on the Medical, Scientific and Research Committee of the Hyperlipidaemia Education & Atherosclerosis Research Trust UK (HEART UK - The Cholesterol Charity). 31 A quick check reveals that this "charity" essentially is a politically-correct outgrowth of the UK government and unnamed food and pharmaceutical companies. From the 2022 annual report we read:

"Diversity, equality and inclusion ... We work closely with ... scientists, doctors, pharmacists, dietitians and other health case professionals across the NHS [National Health Services], plus food companies, medicine manufacturers and across government bodies such as NHS England and the Office of Health... Principle Funding: ... Corporate partnerships. ... including food, gyms... and pharmaceutical companies. ... Food partners ... will apply to use our product approval logo on their products." 32

A quick check if Unilever, the UK-headquartered supermarket supplier for decades tied to Bilderberg, the CFR and Davos, had anything to do with HEART UK, it turns out HEART UK and Unilever have cooperated in the "development of national policy on cardiovascular health [and] heart-healthy choices." Among the joint initiatives was the development of Unilever's Flora, a new type of margarine for the international vegan community. 33

In other words: it is clear that Dr. Flanagan wouldn't have his job, and arguably not his YouTube cloud, if he had any other position than "seed oil good, saturated fat bad" opinions. And he really seems to have instructions to specifically push rapeseed/canola oil even over olive oil. Some noteworthy examples of his behavior:

1. "There's even a recent intervention that looked at liver fat [with canola oil] compared to sunflower oil, lower liver fat levels [for canola oil]." 34 One has to assume that Dr. Flanagan - despite it being a relatively insignificant difference - purposely didn't mention that olive oil edged out canola oil here.


2. "Literally, literally no evidence that there is any ... lipid peroxidation. ... Like none!" 35 There have been no studies into this, in particular how rancid/non-rancid canola oil in all kinds of supermarket end products is, similar how it took many, many years for any independent testing of the omega 3 fish oil in supplements. Over half turned out to be rancid. Canola has been observed by people to oxidize relatively quickly and badly due to its high amount of polyunsaturated fatty acids, including omega 3. 36


3. At least in the main clip of of him on canola oil, I haven't heard Dr. Flanagan say anything about the 1975 heart lesions and the 2017 Alzheimer issues tied to canola oil, despite being otherwise very well-versed in the history of canola oil.


4. As already explained here, Dr. Flanagan too is fully focused on canola oil's LDL lowering effects, at the expense of a broader view of: is it safe? Doesn't it cause any other health effects? He is also accused of that by others:
   
   
   "Very disappointed in this guest. His know it all attitude is not convincing to someone with an open mind who is seeking the truth. There are far more than mere story tellers on the other side of this debate. I’m still not convinced that LDL alone is the problem. And that actively lowering it can open us up to a cascade of other chronic disease. This guest simply ignores that aspect of the debate." 37


5. One skeptical-type podcast 'The Proof with Simon Hill', which also has invited a USC University professor to debunk canola oil criticism, complete with a #HealthMythsDebunked hashtag 38, Dr. Flanagan has repeatedly been promoted as a leading voice against the "cholesterol denialists". 39 Dr. Flanagan, who likes to quote pompous national security skeptics as Neil DeGrasse Tyson 40, has also written articles that read, "Checkmate on Low-Carb Cholesterol Denialism" and "illustrating desperate last stand of LDL-Denialism." 41 He has also written on the Ancel Keys debate.


6. Dr. Flanagan has been active on Reddit, countering "misinformation" by giving anecdotal "evidence" that keto and carnivore diets will lead to ultrahigh LDL-cholesterol values and warning that people on these diets "may die before their twenties." Ironically, despite having a lot of "yes-men" in the thread, he also was countered by someone writing:
   
   
   "I’ve shared my recent cholesterol numbers while on keto here, but I’ll share again since your post seems to conflict with what I experienced. ... In [these] 2 months, I did strict keto: ...
   
   "May 3: LDL: 192. HDL: 39. Tri: 190.
   
   "June 30: LDL: 137. HDL: 45. Tri: 124. ...
   
   "Most of the time, I’ll eat one meal a day and a healthy smoothie. I focus on getting 40-50% of my calories from protein and 40-50% from fat and 10% from carbs. I still eat red meat, cheese, eggs, bacon, bbq ribs, buffalo wings, nuts, etc almost daily. But I think the biggest difference is upping my fiber. I used to get maybe 2-5 grams per day, but now get at least 25 grams per day."
   
   Another person wrote:
   
   
   "Hahaha, starts talking about science. Claims there's no controversy. Everyone agrees on nutrition science! Fails to mention sugar. Ends with a personal anecdote instead of evidence. Classic missinfo." 42

Moving on, the European Union allowed 10% erucic acid levels rapeseed oil / canola oil from 1977 to 1979 43, immediately after the mid 1975 heart issues in rats showed up. From July 1, 1979 44 until 2019, it allowed levels of 5%. 45 Reaffirming the 5% in 2014, in 2019 the EU lowered the limit to 2%, and for infants lowered it from 1% to 0.4%. 46 Interestingly, looking at the science the lower recommendations of the Contaminanten of the Foodchain (CONTAM) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) based itself on, besides the old 1970s studies, it still was only looking at a 7 day study on young rats and a 14 day study on recently-born pigs. That's it. 47 So it is good that the numbers were lowered, but why:

1. was a 15-year study - between 2000 and 2015 - necessary to analyze a handful of studies you can fully analyze over the course of a day?


2. do you consider it acceptable that over a period of 44 years you don't have any proper short-term or long-term safety studies with canola oil? Preferably on human subjects? Looking not just at erucic acid, but also at raw versus refined canola oil with barely any erucic acid in it?


3. did you - apparently - ignore the 2017 study showing Alzheimer's symptoms in Canola oil subjects?


4. has rapeseed oil/canola been allowed in just about every processed food in the West without any serious studies having been done?


5. did you, similar to the FDA, ban the natural sweetener Stevia from the food supply between 1999 and 2011 for a lack of data on safety, despite that data actually being much more extensively present than canola oil? The concerns of the FDA at the time literally were, "the lack of studies [which] raised alarms... there weren't any good ones..." 48

Questions, questions. Questions the European Union won't be able to answer adequately, or the FDA for that matter. It also doesn't have to, because who is going to force it?

Already right before the lowering of the limit for erucic acid from 5% to 2% for adults and from 1% to 0.4% in infants in 2019, did German rapeseed/canola oil test between 0.02% and 1% erucic acid. In great Britain, in this period, there were some issues in Great Britain that certain tests revealed levels above 2%. All in all though, essentially 0% erucic acid will likely be the norm somewhere in the 2030s.

That's all nice and well, but when will proper, real world tests be done that canola A) is safe; and B) actually is healthier for humans than olive oil or coconut oil? It really seems that somebody is afraid to do these tests, and doesn't want anyone else to carry them out as well. 49 With that, we mean powerful globalist companies as Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, BASF, Bayer / Monsanto, and DuPont.

^Rapeseed/canola oil: example of an out-of-control GMO

One aspect we haven't even mentioned yet is that rapeseed/canola oil is a perfect example of a genetically modified organism (GMO) that ran out of control. Rapeseed was bred into a low-erucic acid version by conventional means, before bioengineering even came around. However, after a solid decade of testing, in March 1995 Monsanto made its first deal to sell genetically-modified rapeseed that was resistant to its glyphosate herbicide. 50

That sounds interesting, but as a result, farmers not only increased their yields, but also the amount of glyphosate (part of Roundup) that they sprayed on their canola, leading to additional soil and groundwater pollution by a very potent herbicide. Glyphosate and the additional components in Roundup are considered so problematic that an ever increasing amount of countries have decided to limits its distribution or outright ban it.

Meanwhile, the "Roundup Ready" rapeseed/canola crop has been blowing its seeds across the globe. Initially it was only spotted in the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan. Some time before 2014 it was found in the wild in Switzerland, its seeds having fallen off a truck. 51 By 2021 wild genetically-modified rapeseed, which also flowers a little later than ordinary rapeseed, had also been spotted in Austria, France, Sweden and Great Britain, often cross-breeding with existing rapeseed plants. 52

In summery, you have a genetically-modified rapeseed plant that is resistant against a herbicide that may well be fully banned across the world two or three decades from now.

GMO is a sensitive issue. Governments love it. And corporations even more. In 2015 alone corporations spend $101 million lobbying the U.S. government to prevent something basic as the forced labeling of food packages with GMO notices. The companies involved in that lobbying process? At least in 2015? Once again, the same globalist multinationals we discussed in relation to artificial sweeteners, seed oils, pharmaceuticals, and more: Cargill, Bayer (Monsanto), Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Dow Chemical, Dupont, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Heinz, Monsanto, Nestle, Syngenta and Unilever US. 53

^^

Sources

User complaints about seed oils

Controversial seed oils include soy, corn, rapeseed (traditionally 40-50% erucic acid, which is considered bad for the heart; in the modern EU rapeseed oil is the same as canola), canola (genetically-modified rapeseed with erucic acid and (pungent) glucosinolates largely breeded out, and higher omega 3), cottonseed, grapeseed oil, safflower, and sunflower.

As far as this author has seen, a whole lot of people report getting nauseous and sick of seed oils, including but far from limited to Canola/rapeseed:

• This author: It appears that any product that has any vegetable oil in it, makes me somewhat nauseous. While rapeseed oil might be the worst, I also have it with sunflower and olive oil in products as mayonnaise. They all seem rancid. Fresh extra virgin olive oil is not an issues.
• Reddit comment: "Sluggish, mentally and physically. My A/B test is i eat a fast food burger and fries compared to a homemade one. Homemade I feel fine."
• Reddit comment: "I started having heart palpitations after eating certain foods. After tracking for quite a while (also for gut issues, likely IBS), I started to suspect oils as the culprit. ... I tried grapeseed oil due to high smoke point, and had the worst flare up of gut issues I'd had in many months, including mouth ulcers which I later discovered can be a symptom of digestive issues."
• Reddit comment: "Joint pain is the first thing I notice. Especially hands and knees."
• Reddit comment: "I tend to experience inflammation and brain fog and most notably IBS and a burning discomforting sensation in the gut followed by minimal nausea."
• Reddit comment: "I have a rare skin disease, HS of the scalp. If I have too much seed oil, it can feel like someone is stabbing me in the head with knife, quite literally within minutes."
• Reddit comment: "Brain fog for me."
• Reddit comment: "My eczema comes back."
• Reddit comment: "Glyphosate interferes the pathways in our helpful gut bacteria which in turn negatively impacts the gut brain access. It is used to harvest rape seed. I would never touch rapeseed oil (it’s in so many products) and I’m a farmer - and yes, we grow rapeseed."
• Reddit comment: "Stop using canola oil and hydrogenated oils. i have stopped using those above oils and almost never have heartburn anymore unless the food from a restaurant or if somebody else cooks then almost within an hour i start having symptoms. instead of canola or hydrogenated oils swap for animal fats and animal butters instead. sometimes with avocado oil i have mild symptoms. olive oil i think it’s better."
• Reddit comment: "Acne 1:1 correlation."
• Reddit comment: "Everything hurts, my muscles cramp, brain fog."
• Reddit comment: "Heaviness in my stomach. And tired after a meal instead of having more energy like I should from food."
• Reddit comment: "Soybean is really bad on my gut. All the others basically just never make me feel full. Oh yeah and my skin looks way worse when I eat them."
• Reddit comment: "Anxious, racing heart, low HRV (confirmed by pixel watch), insomnia."
• Reddit comment: "My teeth start to hurt, my skin flares up, and I feel less than optimal overall. I tend to react immediately to them." Reply: "I never realized teeth pain could be related to this, I have that happen sometimes too."
• Reddit comment: "Swollen face/eyes, brain fog, legit 5 months pregnant bloating that I can barely sit down comfortably, snooze a million times in the morning."
• Reddit comment: "Stomach ache, skin issues, bloating/gas, and I personally believe it makes my mental clarity less sharp too."
• Reddit comment: "The worst that I felt was when I did extreme keto and I was metabolising my pufa [polyunsaturated] ridden body fat. I had a crotch rash and oily spots on my back. It took me a while to learn that pufa body fat elimination takes years not weeks."
• Reddit comment: "Joint pain, fatigue, and diarrhea."
• YouTube comment: "I struggled with gas and bloating for years and just couldn't figure out the culprit. ... Eliminating seed oils got rid of the stomach issues."

Rapeseed/canola oil details

• Fat difference, per 100g / 100 ml:
  • Coconut oil: 6g mono-unsaturated fat. 2g poly-unsaturated fat. 87g saturated fat.
  • Olive oil: 73g mono-unsaturated fat. 11g poly-unsaturated fat. 14g saturated fat.
  • Canola oil: 59g mono-unsaturated fat: 30g poly-unsaturated. 7g saturated fat.
  • Sesame oil: 40g mono-unsaturated fat. 42g poly-unsaturated fat. 14g saturated fat.
  • Corn oil: 28g mono-unsaturated fat. 55g poly-unsaturated fat. 13g saturated fat.
  • Beef: 8.4g mono-unsaturated fat. 0.7g poly-unsaturated fat. 7.7g saturated fat.
  • Pork: 7.6g mono-unsaturated fat. 1.4g poly-unsaturated fat. 6.2g saturated fat.
• Rapeseed oil and canola are the same, and yet they are not.
  • nongmoproject.org/blog/gmo-feature-canola/ (accessed: June 4, 2024): "Rapeseed has been a traditional part of Asian cuisines for over 4,000 years. Canada started producing rapeseed during the Second World War when it was needed to make engine lubricant. ...
    Rapeseed contains erucic acid, which has been connected to heart problems, and glucosinolate, which gives it a bitter or pungent taste. Back in the 1970s, researchers at the University of Manitoba ... bred successive generations of rapeseed plants, always selecting the offspring with less erucic acid and glucosinolate. In 1974, the first rapeseed variety low in both those troublesome compounds was registered and in 1978, it was dubbed canola — "can" for Canadian and "ola" for oil. Canola was developed a full 20 years before the first GMO entered the food supply. ...
    In 1995, genetically modified canola engineered to be tolerant of the herbicide glyphosate was introduced to the Canadian market. ... Incidentally, herbicide-tolerant GMOs are made by the same agrichemical companies that produce the accompanying weed killers. It's a profitable business model that drastically increases the amount of chemicals sprayed on farmland, leading to the rise of herbicide-resistant “superweeds.”
    Farmers quickly adopted GMO canola, but the crop proved hard to contain. ...
    Canola seeds are tiny — about 1 mm wide — and pollen can travel long distances on the wind. The plant readily self-seeds, generating volunteer or feral plants. This combination of factors was a perfect storm for the virtually uncontrolled spread of GMO canola. According to the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, contamination was pervasive within seven years of GMO canola's introduction. Seed growers could no longer guarantee their canola seed as non-GMO and organic grain farmers on the Prairies abandoned canola altogether. Today, Canadian farmers grow non-GMO canola in geographically isolated areas to prevent contamination. ...
    GMO canola contamination isn't limited to Canada, either. Global trade routes have driven the spread, with contamination events reported in Australia, Japan and Switzerland."
• Industrial preparation of canola/rapeseed oil:
  • Seed Cleaning and Preparation: Cleaning, crushing.
  • Conditioning and Flaking: Heating to about 95-100°C (203-212°F) to maximize yield. The flaking also is done to increase the yield..
  • Solvent Extraction: Hexane extraction, desolventizing.
  • Degumming: Removing phospholipids.
  • Neutralization: Neutralizing acids with caustic soda / lye.
  • Centrifugation: Removal of the caustic soda / lye.
  • Bleaching: Removing pigments. Either with bleaching clay or activated carbon.
  • Deodorization: Removing odors and flavors.
  • Winterization (Optional): Removing waxes.
  • Packaging: Final product packaging.
• Dec. 3, 2010 airdate, Season 16, episode 10, segment D, Discovery Channel (Canada) / Science channel (U.S.),'How It's Made'. March 11, 2012 YouTube upload, 'How It's Made - Canola Oil' (youtube.com/watch?v=Cfk2IXlZdbI: accessed: June 4, 2024). Comments to the YouTube video are one standing running joke. They include:
  • 5,500 likes: "I love how this went from "one of the healthiest cooking oils" to chemical washes and bleach. Lmao."
  • 5,000 likes: "Wow, this was a great satirical piece. The whole “canola oil is healthier than olive oil” part was hilarious!"
  • 4,400 likes: "Amazingly, AHA recommends this as the healthy cooking oil. That's why everyone of us here in US is in a good shape, free from heart disease and diabetes. Great job AHA."
  • 2,300 likes: "My parents, coming from Europe, cooked with lard exclusively. They lived into their 80's and everything they made tasted fantastic. You can keep your chemical extracted, bleached canola oil."
  • 549 likes: "My great grandfather always loved bleaching and deodorizing his canola seeds back in the old country. He learned to do so from his father who learned from his. Videos like this stir up great emotions about the traditions we've lost over the years and it's nice to see that some still remain."
  • 654 likes: "If you have to work this hard to extract oil from a seed, that's nature's way of saying "you shouldn't be eating this."
  • 560 likes: "I worked at a testing lab for years. One of our clients wanted to test frying pans. And the test was something along the lines of 100ml of canola oil until it reaches flashing point. For a cycle of over 1000 for each pan. The absolute rank, tar like, disgusting residue canola oil additives left on the pan after every 1 cycle. Yes 1 cycle, made the entire lab not eat anything cooked in Canola oil ever again. It was still by far the worst thing I've witnessed in a test lab. We had to wear level B gas masks after 500 or so cycles."
  • 434 likes: "Olive Oil: Press, filter, ready to eat. Canola Oil: Press, solvent extraction, sodium hydroxide wash, centrifugal filtration, cold wax extraction, bleach recoloring, steam deodorization.... OK, now it’s ready for you to eat, it’s “healthier”!"
  • 225 likes: "The beauty of seed oil is that, it won’t make you sick right away until after a few decades of consuming it."
  • 149 likes: "The comparison to Olive oil was hilarious! First we wash it in acid, then soak it in some other crazy chemical and finally we bleach it before depositing the purified GMO goodness in a plastic bottle to let it absorb a few more chemicals."
  • 117 likes: "It’s mind blowing that this was once thought to be healthy."
  • 109 likes: "As someone who grew up in a small town with a canola oil processing plant, I can say they definitely forgot the part about the absolutely horrific smell this process gives off. Makes the whole town smell horrible, all the time."
  • 26 likes: "I just got a job in a canola oil plant , it's dirty af in there and we add silica and clay bags on the refining side , we have to wear masks but most guys don't , I guess it's cancer causing , my gf says I smell like burnt popcorn when I get home from work."
  • 17 likes: "Notice when the canola flakes are washed in “a solvent” for 70 minutes, she doesn’t name the solvent. This solvent is hexane, a known neurotoxic compound."
  • 6 likes: "Can we also talk about it also being sold for animal feed AFTER the solvent and no mention of it being washed for use as feed?"
• Refined canola oil has a high smoke point of 400°F (204°C), one of the reasons why it is popular.
• Studies on rapseed/canola oil, which are greatly lacking, have been removed here and moved into the main article as sources. In 1975 it was linked to growth retardation and heart problems. After that, it was assumed this was purely due to acid levels in the plant. So this was breeded out even more. However, studies to show rapeseed/canola actually is safe now, have never been done. In fact, several studies from the 2010s show it is less heart healthy than olive oil, and even causes brain deterioration - in contrast to olive oil.
• More relevant studies:
  • Nov. 10, 2015, Advances in Nutrition, 'Increase in Adipose Tissue Linoleic Acid of US Adults in the Last Half Century': "We identified 37 studies... Publication dates ranged from 1959 to 2008... The best-fit line for adipose tissue LA increased from 9.1% in 1959 to 21.5% in 2008, representing a 136% increase. ... At the same time that the LA content of adipose tissue has been increasing, the United States has experienced substantial changes in disease prevalence. Cardiovascular disease risk has declined (52 [note: study talks about a decline in heart disease mortality, not cases, and only from 1995-2009, and more superficially 1988-2013]), whereas the prevalence of obesity (53), diabetes (54), and asthma (55) have increased."
    • 54: Sep. 24, 2014, JAMA, 'Prevalence and incidence trends for diagnosed diabetes among adults aged 20 to 79 years, United States, 1980-2012': "data from 1980 to 2012 suggest a doubling of the incidence and prevalence of diabetes during 1990-2008, and a plateauing between 2008 and 2012 [except in] non-Hispanic black and Hispanic subpopulations and those with a high school education or less."
  • Sep. 26, 2018, Open Heart journal, 'Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease: the oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis': "The intake of omega-6 vegetable oils, particularly soybean oil, began to increase in the USA starting in the early 1900s at a time when the consumption of butter and lard was on the decline. [1] This caused a more than two-fold increase in the intake of linoleic acid, the main omega-6 polyunsaturated fat found in vegetable oils, which now makes up around 8% to 10% of total energy intake in the Western world. The omega-6 fat linoleic acid should not be confused with conjugated linoleic acid found in pastured animal foods.
    A systematic review of studies measuring the changes in linoleic acid concentration in subcutaneous adipose tissue in the USA revealed an approximate 2.5-fold increase in linoleic acid increasing from 9.1% to 21.5% from 1959 to 2008.2 Importantly, the concentration of linoleic acid in adipose tissue is a reliable marker of intake as the half-life of linoleic acid is approximately 2 years in adipose tissue. The authors of the study also noted that the increase in adipose tissue linoleic paralleled the increase in the prevalence of diabetes, obesity and asthma. [2] ...
    The most prevalent fatty acid contained in LDL is linoleic acid. On LDL oxidation, linoleic acid is converted to hydroperoxides, which can then be converted to hydroxy acids, such as 9-HODE (9-hydroxy-10,12-octadecadienoic acid). 9-HODE is extremely prevalent in oxidised LDL and is a good indicator of lipid peroxidation. In fact, 9-HODE is 20 times higher in young patients with atherosclerosis compared with healthy volunteers and 30-fold to 100-fold greater in patients with atherosclerosis aged 69 to 94 compared with young healthy individuals.14 9-HODE levels may be a novel way to determine someone’s cardiovascular risk and further studies should be performed to test if 9-HODE could be a good risk factor for coronary heart disease, particularly in those over the age of 50.
    In 1952, Glavlind and colleagues published a paper showing that aortic lipid peroxides positively correlated with atherosclerosis.25 These findings were confirmed in 1970 by Brooks et al who found large amounts of 9-HODE and 13-hydroxy-9,11-octadecadienoic acid (13-HODE) derived from linoleic acid hydroperoxides in aortic plaques.22 In 1991, Wang and Powell found increased amounts of 9-HODE and 13-HODE in the aortas and LDL of atherosclerotic rabbits.26 That same year, Belkner and colleagues found oxygenated cholesterol esters (cholesteryl linoleate) in atherosclerotic plaques of human aortas, the degree of which correlates with the stage of atherosclerosis.21 To sum up, the increase in linoleic acid hydroperoxides in atherosclerotic plaques coincide with a greater severity of atherosclerosis versus normal regions. In other words, the more oxidised linoleic acid you have in atherosclerotic plaque, the worse the severity of CAD.
    In 1987, Halliwell and Grootveld found that many diseases were hallmarked by an increase in lipid peroxidation products. [27]"

^Notes

---

1. Feb. 1989, Alcohol, Clinical and Experimental Research journal, 'Beef fat prevents alcoholic liver disease in the rat': "Liver pathology was evaluated in rats fed ethanol and [pig] lard or [beef] tallow or corn oil over a period of 2 to 6 months. ... Rats fed tallow and ethanol developed none of the features of ALD, those fed lard and ethanol developed minimal to moderate disease, rats fed corn oil and ethanol developed the most severe pathology. The degree of histopathological abnormality correlated with the linoleic acid content of fat in the diet (tallow 0.7%, lard 2.5%, corn oil 56.6%)." Credit goes to Dr. Eric Berg for brining this study to the author's attention.
2. Nov. 10, 2015, Advances in Nutrition, 'Increase in Adipose Tissue Linoleic Acid of US Adults in the Last Half Century'.
3. Sep. 26, 2018, Open Heart journal, 'Omega-6 vegetable oils as a driver of coronary heart disease: the oxidized linoleic acid hypothesis'.
4. See the previous 3 notes.
5. May 7, 2021 YouTube upload by 'Dr. Sten Ekberg', 'Your Doctor Is Wrong About Cholesterol'.
   youtube.com/watch?v=sY48qLl9ZzE.
6. March 27, 2021 YouTube upload by 'Dr. Eric Berg DC', 'Dr. Berg's Wife Has Crazy High Cholesterol of 261..'
   youtube.com/watch?v=8ipbkwzyO_8.
7. *) uscanola.com/crop-production/u-s-suppliers/ (accessed: May 30, 2024): "U.S. Canola Suppliers: SEED: Archer Daniels Midland Company ... BASF ... Bayer CropScience ... Cargill, Inc. ... DuPont Pioneer ... Monsanto (Bayer CropScience) ... OIL: Archer Daniels Midland Company ... Cargill, Inc. ... CANOLA BIODIESEL: Archer Daniels Midland Company . ... MEAL: ... Archer Daniels Midland Company ... Cargill..."
   *) July 2, 2018, ADM.com, 'ADM, Cargill complete agreement for soybean joint venture in Egypt'.
   *) May 4, 2021, PBL.nl (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), 'Vegetable oil and fat sector in the Netherlands': "In the Netherlands, the vegetable oil and fat producers include: - ADM. - Cargill."
8. *) July 2, 2018, ADM.com, 'ADM, Cargill complete agreement for soybean joint venture in Egypt'.
   *) May 4, 2021, PBL.nl (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency), 'Vegetable oil and fat sector in the Netherlands': "In the Netherlands, the vegetable oil and fat producers include: - ADM. - Cargill."
9. reddit.com/r/food/comments/ arh32/canola_oil_good_or_bad/ (accessed: June 4, 2024; original: Jan. 19, 2010)
10. Jan.-Dec. 1975, Acta Medica Scandinavica, 'Physiopathological Effects of Rapeseed Oil: A Review': "Rapeseed oil has a growth retarding effect in animals. ... The effects of rapeseed oil on reproduction and adrenals, testes, ovaries, liver, spleen, kidneys, blood, heart and skeletal muscles have been investigated. Fatty infiltration in the heart muscle cells has been observed in the species investigated. In long-term experiments in rats erucic acid produces fibrosis of the myocardium."
11. July 1975, Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science, 'Cardiac lesions in rats fed rapeseed oils.': "Fully refined rapeseed oils containing different amounts of erucic acid (1.6%, 4.3% and 22.3%) were fed, at 20% by weight of diet, to weanling male and female Sprague-Dawley rats for periods up to 112 days. ... Focal myocardial necrosis and fibrosis occurred in male rats fed rapeseed oils containing different levels of erucic acid for 112 days. ... There were generally fewer lesions in rats fed those oils having the lowest levels of erucic acid."
12. May 11, 2021, Food Science & Nutrition, 'Erucic acid concentration of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) oils on the German food retail market'.
13. Dec. 3, 2010 airdate, Season 16, episode 10, segment D, Discovery Channel (Canada) / Science channel (U.S.),'How It's Made'. March 11, 2012 YouTube upload, 'How It's Made - Canola Oil' (youtube.com/watch?v=Cfk2IXlZdbI: accessed: June 4, 2024).
14. Dec. 7, 2017, Scientific Reports, 'Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease'.
15. June 1, 2013, Nutrition Reviews, 'Evidence of health benefits of canola oil': "After 15 years of continuing research on canola oil since the latest review by Dupont et al.,2 evidence shows a number of potential health benefits of canola oil consumption (Figure 2). Canola oil can now be regarded as one of the healthiest edible vegetable oils... Funding. This work was supported by the Canola Council of Canada and the U.S. Canola Association."
16. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed_oil (accessed: June 4, 2024).
17. July 2014, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 'Health benefits of plant-derived α-linolenic acid': "The total- and LDL-cholesterol–lowering effects of ALA are well documented in studies that used walnuts (27), flaxseed (28), or rapeseed/canola oil (29)... 29. 'The dietary alpha-linolenic acid to linoleic acid ratio does not affect the serum lipoprotein profile in humans.' J Nutr, 135 (2005), pp. 2799-2804."
18. 2005, The Journal of Nutrition, Dutch study, 'The Dietary-Linolenic Acid to Linoleic Acid Ratio Does Not Affect the Serum Lipoprotein Profile in Humans': "The control [group] fat consisted of a mixture of 30.4% sunflower oil, 33.1% olive oil, 11.5% rapeseed oil, and 25% hardstock made from fully hydrogenated palm kernel and palm oil. The experimental fat low in LA [linoleic acid] was composed of 63% olive oil, 9% rapeseed oil, and 28% hardstock. The fat rich in ALA [alpha-linoleic acid] consisted of 20% sunflower oil, 5% olive oil, 52.5% rapeseed oil, and 22.5% hardstock. ... In conclusion... Only the diet with a small increase in ALA intake caused a significant decrease in LDL cholesterol and apoB concentrations."
19. June 1, 2013, Nutrition Reviews, 'Evidence of health benefits of canola oil'.
20. April 2015, Food Policy, 'Functional food choices: Impacts of trust and health control beliefs on Canadian consumers’ choices of canola oil': "Trusting people are more likely to buy GM/GE food. ... The authors acknowledge funding support for this study from Genome Canada, Genome Alberta and the Consumer and Market Demand Network. Travel funding support from National Natural Science Foundation of China..."
21. genomecanada.ca/about/governance/ (accessed: June 4, 2024): A deputy director of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Another a vice president of Alamos Gold Inc. There's a former director of Petro-Canada and senior vice president of Suncor. And also a Chief Scientist – Biosciences, Shell on the Scientific advisory board.
22. Oct. 31, 2015, BMC Trials journal, 'Effect of consuming novel foods consisting high oleic canola oil, barley β-glucan, and DHA on cardiovascular disease risk in humans...': "The trial is financially supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)... The authors acknowledge the Alberta Barley Commission ... The Canadian International Grains Institute... the Richardson Oilseed Limited [and] Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada..."
23. March 10, 2022, Nutrition and Food Science Technology, 'Transgenic Canola Oil Improved Blood Omega-3 Profiles': "[Either] canola oil ... or placebo (corn oil). ... Funding: The study was funded by Nuseed®. Conflict of Interest. JB, AB, XL, and DV are employees of Nutrasource Pharmaceutical and Nutraceutical Services Inc., a contract research organization. BH is a consultant for NuseedⓇ"
24. March 12, 2008, BMC Artery Research journal, 'Canola oil decreases cholesterol and improves endothelial function in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease — a pilot study'.
25. Oct. 17, 2014, Cambridge University Press, 'Can rapeseed oil replace olive oil as part of a Mediterranean-style diet?'.
26. Sep. 9, 2020, Diabetes/Metabolism Research and Reviews, 'Canola oil compared with sesame and sesame-canola oil on glycaemic control and liver function in patients with type 2 diabetes: A three-way randomized triple-blind cross-over trial': "Conclusions: SO [Sesame Oil] consumption appears to improve glycaemic control markers in males and serum GGT [gamma-glutamyltransferase] in females compared with CO [Canola Oil] in patients with type 2 diabetes."
27. 2018, supplement 1, Progress in Nutrition (Iranian study), 'Canola oil and olive oil impact on lipid profile and blood pressure in women with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, controlled trial': "Objective: ... This clinical trial was done to compare the effects of CO [canola oil] and OO [olive oil] on serum lipids and blood pressure in women with type 2 diabetes. ...
    Results: After treatment, SBP [systolic blood pressure] (p=0.02), TG [triglycerides] (p=0.01) and VLDL-C [low-density lipoprotei] (p=0.02) were significantly decreased in OO [olive oil] group. None of the variables had significant changes in CO [canola oil] or SFO [olive oil] groups. There were no significant differences in the blood pressure and lipid profile among 3 groups. ...
    Conclusion: Although we found no differences between the effects of CO [canola oil], OO [olive oil], and SFO [sunflower oil], it seems that replacing CO [canola oil] and SFO [sunflower oil] by OO [olive oil] may have some beneficial effects on SBP [systolic blood pressure], TG [triglycerides] and VLDL-C [low-density lipoprotei] in women with type 2 diabetes. ...
    Table 4. ... LDL -C (mg/dL): [olive oil before:] 81.5... [olive oil after:] 90.7... [olive oil increase:] 9.2. ...
    [canola oil before:] 80.08. [canola oil after:] 79.73. [canola oil decrease:] -0.3461. ...
    [sunflower oil before:] 86.32 [sunflower oil after:] 90.32 [sunflower oil increase:] 4.00."
28. Dec. 7, 2017, Scientific Reports, 'Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease': "In recent years consumption of canola oil has increased due to lower cost compared with olive oil and the perception that it shares its health benefits. However, no data are available on the effect of canola oil intake on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Herein, we investigated the effect of chronic daily consumption of canola oil on the phenotype of a mouse model of AD that develops both plaques and tangles (3xTg). To this end mice received either regular chow or a chow diet supplemented with canola oil for 6 months. At this time point we found that chronic exposure to the canola-rich diet resulted in a significant increase in body weight and impairments in their working memory together with decrease levels of post-synaptic density protein-95, a marker of synaptic integrity... Our data do not justify the current trend aimed at replacing olive oil with canola oil. ... On the other hand, studies have consistently demonstrated a beneficial effect of olive oil in different mouse models of neurodegeneration [11–13]"
29. Nov. 27, 2020, Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, 'The effects of Canola oil on cardiovascular risk factors: A systematic review and meta-analysis with dose-response analysis of controlled clinical trials'.
30. Jan. 29, 2021, Lipids in Health and Disease, 'The effects of canola and olive oils consumption compared to sunflower oil, on lipid profile and hepatic steatosis in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a randomized controlled trial'.
31. nutritionsociety.academy/ instructor/flanagan/ (accessed: June 7, 2024): "Alan is a member of the Heart UK Medical, Scientific & Research Committee."
32. 2022 annual report, HEART UK - The Cholesterol Charity, pp. 3-4, 11-12.
33. Dec. 7, 2017, Scientific Reports, 'Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease': "In the UK and Ireland, Flora has worked with cholesterol charity, HEART UK, on a range of initiatives to encourage people to make heart-healthy choices. Results from Flora pro.activ Testing the Nation roadshows were analysed and published in 2008 by Oxford University under the auspices of HEART UK. The fndings helped to inform the development of national policy on cardiovascular health.
    STAKEHOLDER VIEW: “We applaud Unilever UK and Ireland’s industry-leading efforts to cut trans and saturated fats from its products and to raise consumer awareness about the risks of raised cholesterol.” MICHAEL LIVINGSTON DIRECTOR, HEART UK – THE CHOLESTEROL CHARITY."
34. March 3, 2023 YouTube upload by 'The Proof with Simon Hill', 'Is Canola Oil Bad for You? | Dr. Alan Flanagan | The Proof Clips EP 227'.
35. Ibid.
36. Nov. 4, 2015 YouTube upload by 'TosTinMan EasyCooking', 'Does Canola Oil go Bad or Rancid from Sitting? Here's My Experience with Old Cooking Oil' (granted, his canola oil was a few years old, but certainly tasted horrible).
37. July 20, 2022 YouTube upload by 'The Proof with Simon Hill', 'Cholesterol Denialists Are WRONG | Dr Alan Flanagan | The Proof Podcast Bonus EP'. Top comment as of June 7, 2024.
38. Nov. 25, 2023 YouTube upload by 'The Proof with Simon Hill', ' What is Canola Oil? Exploring Its Composition, Production, and the Truth About Toxicity | The Proof'.
39. July 20, 2022 YouTube upload by 'The Proof with Simon Hill', 'Cholesterol Denialists Are WRONG | Dr Alan Flanagan | The Proof Podcast Bonus EP'.
40. Ibid., opening words.
41. alineanutrition.com/2020/ 11/17/lipoproteina-causality-and-checkmate-on-low-carb-cholesterol-denialism/ (accessed: June 7, 2024; website of Dr. Alan Flanagan).
42. reddit.com/r/Cholesterol/comments/ 14vunon/realworld_consequences _to_misinformation/ (accessed: June 7, 2024; post by Dr. Alan Flanagan: July 10, 2023).
43. denederlandsegrondwet.nl/id/vhckkldw2mzz /richtlijn_76_621_eeg_van_de_raad_van_20 (accessed: June 4, 2024; original: 20 juli 1976): "1. Uiterlijk met ingang van 1 juli 1979 mag het gehalte aan erucazuur van de in artikel 1 bedoelde produkten, berekend op het totale gehalte aan vetzuren in de vetfase, niet meer bedragen dan 5 %. 2. De [EU] Lid-Staten stellen in ieder geval met ingang van 1 juli 1977 een erucazuurgehalte vast dat niet hoger is dan 10 %."
44. Ibid.
45. *) May 16, 2002, Health Council of the Netherlands (gezondheidsraad): Committee on the Safety Assessment of Novel Foods, 'Rapeseed oil with phytosterols and vitamin E; Second opinion regarding consumer safety, in accordance with European Regulation 258/97 concerning novel foods and novel food ingredient': "Het erucazuurgehalte van de nieuwe raapzaadolie is volgens de aanvrager ten hoogste 5% van het totaal aan vetzuren. De olie voldoet hiermee aan Richtlijn 76/621/EEG..."
46. May 11, 2021, Food Science & Nutrition, 'Erucic acid concentration of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) oils on the German food retail market': "The measured erucic acid concentrations of the investigated samples ranged from a minimum of 0.17 [0.02%] to a maximum of 9.68 g/kg [0.97%] (Table 2). All of the examined rapeseed oil samples (Table S1) thus met the legal requirements of a maximum level of 50 g/kg [5%] for vegetable oils with regard to EU Regulation 696/2014 (European Commission. Commission Regulation, 2014), which was valid at the time of this investigation, as well as the new maximum level of 20 g/kg [2%], as established at the end of 2019 by EU regulation 2019/1870 (European Commission. Commission Regulation, 2019a). ...
    Around 80% of the samples (80.3%; 241 samples) were even below 4 g/kg [0.4%], and thus below the maximum erucic acid concentration for infant and follow‐on formula which was only quite recently changed (during the execution of our investigation) from 1% [10 g/kg] to 0.4% in 2019 (European Commission. Commission Regulation, 2019b)."
47. June 16, 2017, SciCom: Wetenschappelijk Comite van het Federaal Agentschap voor de Veiligheid van de Voedselketen (Belgium), pp. 12-13: "[Meestal] is het gehalte in zaden van geteelde koolzaad voor voeding typisch lager dan 0,5% (EFSA, 2016). De aanwezigheid van erucazuur werd eveneens gerapporteerd in gebak, cakes en opvolgmelk voor baby's en in bepaalde diervoeders waarin raapzaad‐ of koolzaad meel werden verwerkt (EFSA, 2016) ...
    Bij ratten werd een stijging van myocardiale lipidosevastgesteld met een dosis van 1 g erucazuur/kg lichaamsgewicht per dag of meer. Bij pasgeboren biggen werd een stijging van myocardiale lipidose vastgesteld bij een dosis van 1,1 g erucazuur/kg lichaamsgewicht per dag of meer. De "No Observed Adverse Effect Level’ (NOAEL) voor lipidose bedroeg 0,7 g/kg lg per dag in eenvoederstudie gedurende 7 dagen bij jonge ratten en gedurende 2 weken bij pasgeboren biggen. Volwassen varkens kunnen hogere gehalten van erucazuur verdragen dan jonge dieren. ...
    "Bij de mens werd het mogelijk verband tussen kanker en de blootstelling aan erucazuur bestudeerd, maar er konden geen conclusies worden getrokken. ...
    Aangezien er onvoldoende gegevens bestaan voor debeoordeling van de dosis‐respons bij de mens, heeft het CONTAM [Contaminanten in de Voedselketen]‐panel van de EFSA [European Food Safety Authority] (EFSA, 2016) de studiegegevens van proefdieren onderzocht om de referentiepunten in kaart te brengen. Het CONTAM‐panel van EFSA heeft gekozen voor een NOAEL [No Observed Adverse Effect Level] voor lipidose van 0,7 g/kg lg per dag als referentiepunt voor de risicobeoordeling. Deze is gebaseerd op een voedingsstudie gedurende 7 dagen bij jonge ratten en gedurende 2 weken bij pasgeboren biggen. Op basis van deze NOAEL heeft het CONTAM‐panel een TDI opgesteld van 7 mg/kg lg/dag voor erucazuur waarbij een onzekerheidsfactor 100 toegepast werd teneinde rekening te houden met intra‐ en interspecies verschillen. Het CONTAM‐panel heeft genoteerd dat deze TDI lager ligt dan de erucazuur dosis van 100 mg/kg lg per dag, waarbijer hematologische effecten optraden bij ALD‐patiënten die behandeld werden met Lorenzo's olie."
48. Sep. 1, 1999, Christian Science Monitor, 'Bitter dispute over an all-natural sweetener'.
49. ahdb.org.uk/erucicacid (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) (accessed: June 4, 2024; undated, but first webarchive: Sep. 30, 2020): "For rapeseed oil use in food products, the law states that erucic acid levels must not exceed 5%. The current maximum level in most contracts is set to 2%. The European Commission plans to change the legal food standard to 2%.
    The detection of higher than expected levels of erucic acid in seed grown from some double-low varieties recently, with some deliveries exceeding the 2% level, is a concern.".
50. March 18, 2020, isaaa.org, 'Canada Celebrates 25 Years of GM Approvals': "Canada is celebrating 25 years of GM crop approvals after the commercial release of two genetically modified (GM) herbicide tolerant varieties of canola on March 14, 1995. The two GM canola varieties were AgrEvo Canada's glufosinate ammonium tolerant canola and Monsanto Canada's glyphosate tolerant canola."
51. June 26, 2014, TestBiotech.org, 'EFSA gives carte blanche to the uncontrolled spread of Monsanto’s genetically engineered oilseed rape'.
52. Dec. 2021, Biology journal (Basel), 'A Review of the Unintentional Release of Feral Genetically Modified Rapeseed into the Environment'.
53. Feb. 25, 2016, Environmental Working Group (EWG.org), 'Food Lobby Spends $101 Million in 2015 to Avert GMO Labeling'.