Canola oil was developed from the rape see, a member of the mustard family. Rape seed is considered unsuited to human consumption because it contains a long-chain fatty acid called erucic acid, which under some circumstances is associated with fibrotic heart lesions. Canola oil has a high sulphur content and goes rancid easily. Baked goods made with canola oil develop mold very quickly.

During the deodorizing process, the omega-3 fatty acids of processed canola oil are transformed into trans fatty acids, similar to those in margarine and possibly more dangerous. A recent study indicates that “heart healthy” canola oil actually creates a deficiency of vitamin E, a vitamin required for a healthy cardiovascular system. Other studies indicate that even low-erucic-acid canola oil causes heart lesions particularly when the diet is also low in saturated fat.

Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions.

If you like fish please eat wild and not farmed-raised. The problem is farm-raised fish do not spend their lives vigorously swimming through cold ocean waters or leaping up rocky streams. They spend their lives as “couch potatoes”, lazily circling in crowded pens fattening up on pellets of fish chow…not the normal life nor feed of the fish in the wild. For example, farm-raised Coho salmon has been found to have approximately 2.7 times the total fat as wild samples.

Antibiotics & Pesticides

Disease and parasites, which would normally exist at relatively low levels in fish scattered around the oceans, can run rampant in densely packed oceanic feedlots. To survive, farmed fish are vaccinated as small fry. Later, they are given antibiotics or pesticides to ward off infection.

There’s a major difference between wild salmon and farm-raised fresh salmon: without certain additives, the flesh of the farm-raised salmon would not have that familiar pinkish hue. Farm-raised flesh would be grey.

The naturally occurring color of the flesh of wild salmon comes from carotenoids, such as astaxanthin. In nature, these carotenoids are produced by certain micro-organisms and plant life. Wild salmon obtain carotenoids from their diet of small shrimp and small fish. A specific carotenoid, asataxanthin, is found in 90 per cent of salmon in the wild.

Farm-raised salmon are fed pellets of ground up fish meal and oils to make them grow quickly. They’re given antibiotics to fight disease – and no naturally occurring carotenoids means no pink color.

To achieve the desired color, the feed of farmed salmon is supplemented with an additive. A salmon farmer can choose the color he or she wants the fish to be. The feed will be adjusted to help achieve that color. There is no suggestion that this additive is harmful to people, but it does make salmon change color. Wild is best for your health.

Hydrogenation is the process that turns polyunsaturates, normally liquid at room temperature, into fats that are solid at room temperature…margarine and shortening! To produce them, manufacturers begin with the cheapest oils:

• soy
• corn
• cottonseed
• canola

These oils are already rancid from the extraction process and mix them with tiny metal particles, usually nickel oxide. The oil with its nickel catalyst is then subjected to hydrogen gas in a high-pressure, high-temperature reactor. Next, soap-like emulsifiers and starch are squeezed into the mixture to give it better consistency; the oil is yet again subjected to high temperatures when it is steam cleaned. This removes its unpleasant odor. Margarine’s natural color, an unappetizing grey, is removed by bleach. Dyes and strong flavors must then be added to make it resemble butter. Finally, the mixture is compressed and packaged in blocks or tubs and sold as a health food.

Partially hydrogenated margarines and shortenings are even worse for you than the highly refined vegetable oils from which they are made because of chemical changes that occur during the hydrogenation process. Most man-made trans fat are toxins to the body, but unfortunately your digestive system does not recognize them as such. Instead of eliminating them, your body incorporates trans fat into the cell membranes as though they were cis fats…your cells actually become partially hydrogenated! Once in place, trans fatty acids wreak havoc with cell metabolism because chemical reactions can take place only when electrons in the cell membranes are in certain arrangements or patterns, which the hydrogenation process has disturbed.

Altered partially hydrogenated fats made from vegetable oils actually block utilization of essential fatty acids, causing many deleterious effects including sexual dysfunction, increased blood cholesterol and paralysis of the immune system. Consumption of hydrogenated fats is associated with a host of other serious diseases, not only cancer but also atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity, immune system dysfunction, low-birth-weight babies, birth defects, decreased visual acuity, sterility, difficulty in lactation and problems with bones and tendons. Yet hydrogenated fats continue to be promoted as health foods. The popularity of margarine and shortening over butter represents a triumph of advertising duplicity over common sense. Your best defense is to avoid them like  the plague.

If you don’t own a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, I highly suggest you buy a copy or go to your library and check out a copy.

“He who does not know food, how can he understand the diseases of man.” ~Hippocrates~