Canola Oil: From Paddock to Plate-by Dr Harold Gunatillake

Understanding Canola Oil’s Journey, Uses, and Health Impacts

Overview: Canola oil is a wonderfully versatile and heart-friendly vegetable oil made from crushed rapeseed. It’s known for having the lowest saturated fat content (about 7%) among common cooking oils, contains no trans fats, and is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. With a high smoke point of approximately 400°F (204°C) and a neutral flavour, it’s ideal for baking, frying, and making salad dressings.

Today, we’re excited to explore canola oil — it’s one of the most loved cooking oils here in Sri Lanka and across the globe. We’ll look into how it’s made, share some health benefits, discuss potential side effects, and find out why it has become a favourite in so many Sri Lankan households.

What is Canola Oil?

Canola oil comes from the seeds of the canola plant, a special type of rapeseed bred to be low in erucic acid and glucosinolates. This careful breeding makes it safe and perfect for us to enjoy in our foods, setting it apart from traditional rapeseed oil.

How is Canola Oil Grown and Produced?

Canola crops are typically planted in autumn or winter and thrive in the cooler climates of many countries. Canada is the world’s leading producer and exporter of canola, accounting for over 30% of global supply, with around 18–20 million tonnes produced each year. Other major producers include China, India, Australia, Russia, and the European Union—especially Germany and France. The name ‘canola’ actually comes from ‘Canadian oil, low acid,’ highlighting its Canadian roots. When the bright yellow flowers bloom and mature, the seed pods are carefully harvested, and

the tiny black seeds are pressed or chemically processed to create the oil.

Cooking with Canola Oil

Canola oil is appreciated for its light flavour, high smoke point, and versatility. Whether you’re frying sausages, baking a cake, or preparing a salad dressing, canola oil’s neutral taste and reliability make it a popular choice. It’s also perfect for deep frying because it can handle high temperatures without breaking.

Health Benefits of Canola Oil

Heart Health: Canola oil is rich in heart-friendly monounsaturated fats and offers a balanced mix of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. These nutrients can help lower bad cholesterol and promote better cardiovascular health.

Canola oil is an excellent option for everyday cooking because it’s lower in saturated fat than many other common oils, making it easier to make healthier choices.

Rich in Vitamin E: This antioxidant helps protect cells from damage and supports immune function.

Possible Side Effects and Considerations

While canola oil is generally safe for most people when consumed in moderation, some individuals may be sensitive to or allergic to rapeseed or related plants. Highly processed or refined oils may sometimes contain trace chemicals from the extraction process, but rest assured, Australian food safety standards keep these levels very low. As with anything, enjoying oil in moderation is key. Using it as part of a well-balanced diet can help support your overall health and well-being.

Conclusion

Starting as a simple field of yellow flowers and now proudly sitting on your kitchen shelf, canola oil has become a beloved part of Australian cooking. Its health benefits, versatility, and gentle flavour make it a favourite in many homes. Remember,

moderation is essential – so enjoy it while cooking, baking, or frying, with a bit of knowledge about what’s in your bottle.

Written by Dr Harold Gunatillake

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Chandre’s observations:

I disagree strongly. This stuff by “Pri” is standard misinformation. He says:

CANOLA is entirely a genetic engineering product by the Canadian Oil industry (hence the name),

It is NOT a genetic product, nor a product of industry, but a product (obtained by traditional plant-breeding methods) by a publicly funded (government) research laboratory where I work.

Pri says:

Despite powerful marketing with various health claims, the vast evidence base indicates that increased consumption of seed oils like Canola has contributed to an increase in chronic metabolic diseases (even cancer is primarily a metabolic disease). It is not a healthy oil.

and cites as “evidence” non-peer-reviewed internet sources.

You have to compare a batch of organisms (lab rats, guinea pigs, people) who eat only Canola oil (and no other fats) versus a placebo over a lifetime period of test organisms, as well as human groups, to say anything useful. No such data are available.

The available data show that Canola Oil and Olive oil are comparable in almost every aspect regarding human health, except that Canola oil is much cheaper and more affordable for low-income consumers.

Olive oil is also produced from highly crossbred wild olive varieties, just as Canola oil is made from crossbred wild rapeseed stocks.

[Only difference is, Canola is a 20th-century product, while Olive oil

took centuries when plant genetics was unknown.

According to people like “Pri”, it seems that what is done by ignorant people over several centuries by trial and error is “natural”, while what is done by scientists is “synthetic”. Almost all modern

pharmaceuticals are synthetic, and some people like are even working against pharmaceuticals, and want to go back to herbal medicine. They are also working against biologically active pesticides like glyphosate and want to go back to the harmful substances used in the old days (19th century, say).

Let them do what they want. But don’t mislead others.

Canola development at NRC Canada (the laboratory where I worked for 40 years until my retirement) began more than a decade before I joined NRC. The NRC’s

Prairie Regional Laboratory (PRL)

In Saskatoon, it was instrumental. In the 1950s, NRC organic chemist Burton Craig developed a specialised gas chromatograph technique.

The development is officially recognised as a partnership between the University of Manitoba, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada.

The original Canola oil was not genetically modified (GMO).

The “discoverers” created Canola in the 1970s using traditional cross-breeding techniques—essentially high-tech selective breeding—to reduce the harmful components of rapeseed.

While Canola was a rapid, laboratory-backed breakthrough of the 20th century, the olive tree is a classic example of “slow- motion” domestication that occurred through trial and error, driven by limited genetic knowledge, over roughly 6,000 to 7,000 years. Ancient farmers in the Levant region (modern-day Syria, Turkey, and Israel) began by identifying individual wild trees that naturally produced larger fruit or more oil. Unlike Canola scientists who used seeds, ancient farmers could not use olive seeds as they don’t “breed true”—planting a pit from a great olive tree often results in a wild, thorny plant. To save the best traits, they used cuttings and grafting, essentially “cloning” the best trees for centuries. These cloned trees moved across the Mediterranean, and the domesticated trees naturally crossed-bred with local

wild olives

, creating the hundreds of diverse cultivars (such as Arbequina and Picual) we have today. Ancient olive yields were very low (20 kg of olives per litre of oil), whereas only 5 kilograms of modern cross-bred olives are needed to produce 1 L of olive oil. The same is true for canola; it also does not have the undesirable characteristics of rapeseed.

The same is true for rice. The old varieties of rice (traditional rice) took 6 months to mature, and one hectare of land gave about 1.8 metric tonnes of rice. Modern varieties from Bathalagoda (BT series) and other Rice Research stations, developed through genetic knowledge, are high-yielding and fast-growing. They mature in three months, absorb and respond to fertilisers, and one hectare can yield 5-10 metric tonnes of rice. They are as nutritious as, or better than, traditional varieties (e.g., golden rice). It is the development of these modern varieties that has enabled us to meet the very high population growth and AVOID FAMINE. Thus, in Sri Lanka in 1948, the population was about 4-5 million. Today, it is some six times larger.

Chandre Dharmawardana

Chandre Dharma-wardana is a Sri Lankan-born academic and scientist. A

former president of Vidyodaya Campus (now the University of Sri Jayewardenepura), he is currently[when?] a professor of theoretical physics at the Université de Montréal. He has retired and continues as a principal research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada.