[AlexDanger]

I'm going to call bullshit on pretty much everything you've said here.

As I understand, Canola oil is a cheap, neutral oil with decent nutritional properties and an excellent range of cooking temperatures. Its a great alternative to olive oil. Its better than olive oil if you're frying a steak or using high temperatures.

Can you provide sources for what you've said?

I'll start: http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/canola.asp

Also, to address your claim about 'heavily processed' canola oil - the more refined/processed it is, the less contaminants are left in the final product. Its unrefined canola oil that is potentially dangerous.

Your claim about rancidity is also bogus. All oil goes rancid. Canola oil stored correctly (ie in a closed bottle in your cupboard or fridge) will last a year. Olive oil will last about the same time.

[tracker1]

Yeah, now open the bottle, use about 1/8th of it a month for a couple months and see which goes bad faster. Also, Olive Oil isn't the only option here.

Personally in my kitchen I have coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil (about as processed as canola, but much better properties), walnut oil (used sparingly, great flavor) and regular butter. On occasion I'll use regular lard, which is actually pretty healthy.

I probably use more butter and rice bran oil than the others. Canola/vegetable oils are just not good for you, do some cursory searches. There are much better alternatives that aren't much more expensive over the course of a year.

[AlexDanger]

Seriously, this is Hacker News, not Fox News. Misinformation has no place here. I'm calling you out. Provide evidence to back up your ludicrous claims.

Canola/vegetable oils are just not good for you, do some cursory searches.

This is absolute bullshit. Citations please.

I wonder if all this scaremongering comes from the fact that Canola oil is much cheaper than other oils?

Personally in my kitchen I have coconut oil, olive oil, rice bran oil (about as processed as canola, but much better properties), walnut oil (used sparingly, great flavor) and regular butter. On occasion I'll use regular lard, which is actually pretty healthy.

If you're ok using lard I'd highly suggest you try some Schmaltz. Once a month I render a batch of Schmaltz and its fantastic for roasting vegetables and searing. Its extremely cheap to make, the butcher gives me poultry frames for $1/kg. Its a bonus side product of making stock from the frames and simple to clarify given the natural seperation of water/oil.

[DanBC]

I'm guessing the nonsense is somehow connected to anti-GM and Monsanto and GM rapeseed. It's not a popular crop in England. People say it's bad for hay fever sufferers.

Olive oil does have much better word-of-mouth marketing.

[chestnut-tree]

"It's not a popular crop in England"

I wouldn't say that exactly. There's been a small surge in its popularity. You can find bottles of cold-pressed rapeseed oil in most supermarkets (at fairly premium prices). Many of these cold-pressed varieties have come from small-scale producers. Also, a lot of oil in supermarkets simply labelled as vegatable oil is in fact rapeseed oil.

[a_bonobo]

Australia's KFC recently switched to Canola Oil [1], I think because it's cheaper to use the local oil than to import. Maybe other companies will follow?

From the press release: >High-oleic canola oil contains more oleic acid (a monounsaturated fat) and less polyunsaturated fats (namely alpha-linolenic acid and linoleic acid), allowing for greater heat tolerance and longer shelf life than regular canola oil.

>A healthier, home-grown alternative to palm oil, high-oleic canola oil also has an extended fry life and is thus more cost efficient than regular canola oil.

Source: [2]

[1] http://www.kfc.com.au/nutrition/canola-oil.asp

[2]

[tracker1]

Well, if you search google for canola unhealthy, you get quite a few results, some of which are fud, and hippy nonsense regarding GMO foods, etc. My larger concerns are saturated vs. unsaturated fats and their effect on the growth of metabolic syndrome in this country from crisco and other transfat introductions to the more recent canola oil.

Most of these products are as far from natural as it gets considering the sheer amount of processing involved when compared to say butter, lard, or fats absorbed from regular food intake (nuts, and meat).

A couple of decent articles related to the issue are as follows (note, this isn't just canola vs. others so much as trans fats (not all canola is hydrogenated) and the use of unsaturated vs. saturated fats (canola is unsaturated).

* http://www.marksdailyapple.com/saturated-fat-healthy/#axzz2U... * http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/component/content/article/6... * http://www.menshealth.com/health/saturated-fat

I'm not opposed to GMO, but have been avoiding a lot of different types of fats, and starches for the better part of a year, without reducing my caloric intake, and have done far better with that than the USDA recommendations.