Canola Oil


Canola Oil - Directory & Reference Resources

Canola-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the figure in Celtic mythology, see Canola (Celtic mythology). For the Maemo multimedia application, see Canola (software).

In agriculture, Canola is a trademarked cultivar of genetically engineered rapeseed variants from which rapeseed oil is obtained. Also known as "LEAR" oil (for Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed), Canola oil was initially bred in Canada by Keith Downey and Baldur Stefansson in the 1970s[citation needed].

The word "canola" is derived from "Canadian oil, low acid" in 1978. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

1 Diseases

2 History

3 Health effects

4 Other facts

 Diseases

Main article: List of canola diseases

 History

 Canola field in Temora, New South Wales

Canola field near Bindi Bindi Western Australia

Canola field near Red Deer, Alberta

Bottle of Canola Oil from CanadaOnce considered a specialty crop in Canada, canola has evolved into a major North American cash crop. Canada and the United States produce between 7 and 10 million metric tons (tonnes) of canola seed per year. Annual Canadian exports total 3 to 4 million metric tons of the seed, 700,000 metric tons of canola oil and 1 million metric tons of canola meal. The United States is a net consumer of canola oil. The major customers of canola seed are Japan, Mexico, China and Pakistan, while the bulk of canola oil and meal goes to the United States, with smaller amounts shipped to Taiwan, Mexico, China, and Europe.

Canola was developed through conventional plant breeding from rapeseed, an oilseed plant with roots in ancient civilization. The word "rape" in rapeseed comes from the Latin word "rapum," meaning turnip. Turnip, rutabaga, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, mustard and many other vegetables are related to the two canola species commonly grown: Brassica napus and Brassica rapa. The negative associations with the word "rape" in North America resulted in the more marketing-friendly name "Canola", but also to distinguish it from regular rapeseed oil, which has much higher erucic acid content.

Hundreds of years ago, Asians and Europeans used rapeseed oil in lamps. As time progressed, people employed it as a cooking oil and added it to foods. Its use was limited until the development of steam power, when machinists found rapeseed oil clung to water- and steam-washed metal surfaces better than other lubricants. World War II saw high demand for the oil as a lubricant for the rapidly increasing number of steam engines in naval and merchant ships. When the war blocked European and Asian sources of rapeseed oil, a critical shortage developed and Canada began to expand its limited rapeseed production.

After the war, demand declined sharply and farmers began to look for other uses for the plant and its products. Edible rapeseed oil extracts were first put on the market in 1956-1957, but these suffered from several unacceptable characteristics. Rapeseed oil had a distinctive taste and a disagreeable greenish colour due to the presence of chlorophyll. It also contained a high concentration of erucic acid, suspected of causing cancer if ingested in large amounts. Feed meal from the rapeseed plant was not particularly appealing to livestock, due to high levels of sharp-tasting compounds called glucosinolates.

Rapeseed had been grown in Canada (mainly Saskatchewan) since 1936. Canadian plant breeders took up the challenge to improve the quality of the plant. In 1968, Dr. Baldur Stefansson of the University of Manitoba used selective breeding to develop a low erucic acid variety of rapeseed. In 1974 another variety was produced with both a low erucic acid content and a low level of glucosinolates; this was dubbed Canola, from Canadian Oil Low Acid.

A variety developed in 1998 is considered to be the most disease- and drought-resistant variety of Canola to date. Recent varieties such as this have been produced by gene splicing techniques.

 Health effects

Canola oil has been touted as a healthy oil due to its low saturated fat and high monounsaturated oil content - the latter almost 60% - and beneficial omega-3 fatty acids profile. The Canola Council of Canada states it is completely safe and is the healthiest of all commonly used cooking oils.[4] Traditional rapeseed oil contains higher amounts of erucic acid and glucosinolates, both of which were deemed undesirable for human consumption by the USDA. Erucic acid is implicated with cancer and rancidity and glucosinolates are goitrogenic. Canola oil reduces them to very low levels - 0.5 to 1% for erucic acid - which is well below the 2 percent limit set by the United States Food and Drug Administration. [5]

For many years, rapeseed oil was used for human consumption in Canada. Although the undesirable effects of glucosinolates and erucic acid were known, they were deemed an acceptable risk versus the many health benefits of rapeseed oil. Nonetheless, researchers attempted and were able to develop fully "double-zero" varieties by the 1980s without significant levels of those two compounds.

Canola and other oils (excluding butter and olive oil) are under a question mark over possible links to macular degeneration of the eye, which can cause eventual blindness. "DR PAUL BEAUMONT: Olive oil appears to be OK. Now, which vegetable oil is it? We don't know. There are some funny oils like canola, which has got a high percentage of erucic acid in it. There are other oils which we've extracted in an odd way and we've changed them from a cis to a trans form. Other ones we hydrogenate to make more creamy. Now, these are not normal oils and they're not going to be properly biodegraded. So they are the ones that we'd be highly suspicious are bad for us. Personally, I wouldn't touch them. I stick to olive oil and a bit of butter." (story reported on George Negus Tonight, ABC Australia broadcast, 19 August 2003, http://www.abc.net.au/dimensions/dimensions_health/Transcripts/s927458.htm).

  Other facts

Today about 75% of the Canola crops planted in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan are GM (genetically modified food) herbicide-tolerant varieties.

In 2004, North Dakota produced 91% of the Canola in the United States.[6]

Compared with sunflower, corn, peanut, and many other oils, Canola has one of the lowest ratios of saturated to unsaturated fat, which has known health benefits.[7]

The rapeseed blossom is a major source of nectar for honeybees.

Canola oil is a promising source for manufacturing biodiesel, a renewable alternative to fossil fuels.

The main price-discovery mechanism for worldwide canola trade is the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange canola futures contract. Rapeseed is traded on the Euronext exchange.

Canola Oil

See resources for the A-Z of plant oils > A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

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