Cooking Oil Health Update

Two main oils we use are this great Olive Oil (for low/mid heat cooking - it was an easy decision to use Olive oil for this as there has been a myriad of studies showing all its health benefits) and for the past few years this great expeller-pressed naturally refined Canola Oil (for high heat stir frys).

As my friends know one of my main hobbies is keeping up with Science/Tech/Health research and this weekend I just read about a new study that raised my concerns on Canola Oil (even the high quality one we buy).  Before we get to that, I'll quickly reiterate why we went with Canola Oil for stir frys, it's high in monounsaturated fats and with the natural refining it can stand high heat (here's a great tutorial link on what to look for in healthy oils, I like this site as it has references to research for all their claims), also a great balance of Omega 6 to 3's, etc.  But some downsides were the very nature of Canola oil not being a good healthy oil, until Canadian plant scientists GMO'd it (for the record I have no issue with GMO if it's done properly for the right reasons, but that's a topic for another day) by selective breeding, which was the level of GMO sophistication back in the 70's.  I also knew that Avocado oil was probably the healthiest high heat cooking oil but 2-3 years ago it was a very very expensive option, today it's just somewhat expensive.

So here's the new research on Canola oil, a few things to keep in mind is that they used the very unnaturally extracted/refined regular/cheap Canola oil (which is what 90% of people buy so makes sense).  Also, as this is prelim research they can't pinpoint what exactly in the Canola oil is causing these unhealthy results.  Also it is a mouse not a human study.  So for many reasons I'm not suggesting we abandon our good expensive Canola oils (but if you have just the $3-4 ones I do urge you to dump that!) but I always preach diversity and for all these reasons, next time we stock up it will be on these 2 oils below.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171207141624.htm

For High heat cooking, we're definitely switching to Avocado oil (read this for the many benefits) and I found a very high quality one that's reasonably priced and readily available!  Loblaws has at a great price as does Walmart (their Organic section is growing).

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/chosen-foods-100-pure-avocado-oil/6000196888795

Also, to try and work in another super healthy oil (again read this to find out why), we'll buy this great and reasonably priced Coconut Oil for baking and making pancakes!  Some people don't like how Coconut oil solidifies, well that's because of the long chain triglycerides, so what Nature's Way did is naturally replace the LCT's with the very healthy MCT's, to increase the MCT level to 92% (from the 62% in normal coconut oil)...now it's healthier and doesn't solidify.

https://www.vitamart.ca/natures-way-liquid-coconut-oil.html

PS  One final thought, as I always keep a look out for the future...seems the next dimension of diversification may be Algae Oil!  I'll keep an eye on it, as the research comes in...bottom line is that Olive Oil has by far the most research studies, nothing else comes close so it's a field you have to keep an eye on and roll with the punches!