Here is what almost everyone does not know about oils:

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF OILS:

1. Healthy Oils
2. Toxic Oils

Before I give you a list of the healthy oils you should be using and the toxic oils that you must avoid let me tell you a common-sense approach to eating oils.

Healthy oils are necessary for good health.  Here is why:

 

Function

At 9 grams per calorie, oils are the most efficient energy nutrient you can consume. Oils help build healthy cell membranes and assist the nervous system in sending messages to the brain. Oils help your intestines absorb vitamins A, D, E and K, and store them in your body fat. Oils assist in regulating hormones, lubricating skin and cushioning organs. Always important, oils add taste and texture to the food you consume.

 

Types

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils remain liquid at room temperature. Saturated and trans fat oils often clump up at room temperature. Unsaturated oils contain essential fatty acids, which are nutrients your body needs. Your body has all the saturated oils and trans fat oils it needs. Unsaturated oils include olive, peanut, canola, soybean, sunflower, safflower, corn and fish oils. Saturated oils include butter, lard, shortening, margarine, coconut oil, palm oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil and animal fats.

 

Effects

Too much saturated oils in your diet raise LDL, or bad cholesterol, which may contribute to high blood pressure. Consuming unsaturated oils raises HDL or good cholesterol, contributing toward lowering blood pressure. According to the website Ask Dr. Sears, the standard American diet contains too much saturated oil and not enough unsaturated oil. Plant oils, which contain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, are the unsaturated oils missing from many American diets.

 

Significance

Omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are the only two out of 20 fatty acids your body can’t produce on its own. Of these two essential fatty acids, omega-3 has been successful in treating several health conditions. In his book “What Your Doctor Hasn’t Told You and the Health Store Clerk Doesn’t Know,” Dr. Edward Schneider recommends omega-3 for depression, preventing heart disease or stroke, and for memory loss or Alzheimer’s. In the book’s “Longevity Top Ten,” omega-3 fatty acids are listed seventh.

 

So, what oils should we consider eating?

 

The first consideration is to eat oils that are from traditional foods.   Does that sound obvious?   Well, actually it is not obvious because we are offered oils by themselves or in packaged foods that are NOT from traditional foods.  For example, cotton seed oil.  Did you know that cotton seed oil is not a food?  When was the last time you ate cotton seeds?  Yet, many processed foods contain cottonseed oil.  The way to know this is read the label.

 

Cotton seed oil is not a traditional human food and was never intended to be one, yet it is used by processed food manufacturers.  This oil is generally found in processed foods and contains a high ratio of saturated fat. Studies show it may raise the risk of heart disease and spike cholesterol levels. Cottonseed oil has a high ratio of saturated fat and may also contain traces of pesticides and GMO’s used when farming cotton crops.  Cotton, the plant where this oil is extracted from, is one of the crops most heavily sprayed with petrochemicals. Cotton production in the United States, for instance, makes use of the notorious dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane or DDT. Rats exposed to this particular organochlorine insecticide had endocrine function abnormalities, particularly in male rats, which consequently resulted in reproductive problems. Exposure to pesticides, in general, has also been linked to a host of maladies in humans like ADHD in children, and obesity and diabetes, to name a few. In other words, cotton seed oil is toxic!   I recommend that you always read the labels on your food products and avoid cotton seed oil.

 

There are many good and natural oils to choose from that can be used safely and that are derived from traditional foods.  Some of the most common of these good oils include:

 

1. Olive oil
2. Sesame oil
3. Coconut oil
4. Avocado oil
5. Rice bran oil

 

There is, of course, corn oil, soy oil and other traditional food source oils, but corn and soy oil must be taken cautiously since they might be coming from GMO source grains.  Also, any non-organic oil may contain pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizing chemical residues.  Also, non-organic and GMO based oils often contain left-over solvent residues such as Hexane, a known toxic chemical, since some oils are extracted from foods using solvent chemical processes.

 

What about Canola oil?

 

Well, Canola oil has been touted as the new “healthy” oil good for everyone.  In my opinion, it is unfortunate that Canola oil is so popular and is contained in many processed, over-the-counter and packed foods.

 

In my opinion, Canola oil falls into the same category as cotton seed oil because it does not come from a traditional food.  When was the last time you ate a plate of Canola seeds?  The common name for Canola seed is Rapeseed.  According to ancient Asian medicine and medical texts, Rapeseeds or Rapeseed oil should never be eaten and can cause impotence in men and infertility in women as well as other negative imbalances and health conditions.

 

I believe that Canola oil became popular because it is a weed that is very easy to grow and was a good business opportunity.  Over a hundred years ago, Canola oil was used mainly as a machine oil, but not for human consumption.  Here are some more facts about the toxic effects of Canola oil.

 

Research demonstrates canola oil led to significant declines in working memory and has a significant impact on weight management.  Canola oil is not a healthy fat vital to your brain; it is manufactured from genetically engineered rapeseed plants altered to reduce levels of erucic acid toxic to humans and processed through several chemical baths before being bleached.

 

According to a study by AARP, 93 percent of Americans are concerned with their brain health, but very few understood some of the natural strategies they could use to improve it. Contrary to popular belief, your brain function and cognitive performance do not have to decline with age. There are steps you can take that influence your memory, processing, executive functions and more.

 

Even if you are already in your “golden years,” simple changes may prompt brain health for the better. For instance, where once it was believed that neurons were only generated early in life, scientists now know that neurogenesis (generation of new neurons) continues into adulthood. Exactly what influences the rate of new neuron growth is still being explored, as are other factors that play a role in brain health.

 

Recent research, for instance, has uncovered damage canola oil consumption triggers in your brain and the effect this may have on your memory and learning ability. The study, published in the journal Nature, also found the consumption of canola oil increased weight gain.

 

Canola Oil Negatively Affects Brain Health and Weight Management. The study was led by researcher Dr. Domenico Praticò from Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Praticò commented to the Los Angeles Times that canola oil is perceived by many to be healthy — a widespread misconception:

 

“Canola oil is appealing because it is less expensive than other vegetable oils, and it is advertised as being healthy. Very few studies, however, have examined that claim, especially in terms of the brain.”

 

Researchers used an animal model to evaluate the effect canola oil has on the brains of mice genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s disease.  Canola oil developed a reputation of being healthy when doctors began warning people to reduce their saturated fat intake and consume vegetable oils instead. Canola has the lowest percentage of saturated fat of all commonly used vegetable oils and is relatively inexpensive, but is actually one of the worst oils for your health.

 

Canola oil is often used in homes and restaurants for baking, sautéing, frying and other forms of cooking, with consumers being deceived into believing it’s better for them than saturated fats. The mice were split into two groups; one group was fed the usual chow and the second group was fed chow with the human equivalent of 2 teaspoons of canola oil per day.

 

At the end of the experimental six months, researchers observed that the mice eating chow laced with canola oil were significantly heavier than the mice that did not eat canola oil. Additionally, the mice who had eaten canola oil demonstrated significant declines in working memory together with a decreased level of post-synaptic density protein-94, a marker of synaptic integrity. The researchers found canola oil had a negative effect on health and concluded:

 

“Taken together, our findings do not support a beneficial effect of chronic canola oil consumption on two important aspects of AD [Alzheimer’s disease] pathophysiology which includes memory impairments as well as synaptic integrity.”

 

Your Brain Needs Healthy Fats:

The same researchers used a similar model to evaluate the effects of olive oil on the brain function of mice. In that study, neither group was heavier than the other, and the mice fed chow enriched with extra-virgin olive oil performed significantly better on testing that evaluated the animals’ working memory, spatial memory and ability to learn.

 

The brain tissue of these mice, genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s disease as they age like the mice in the featured study, also revealed dramatic differences. The mice fed olive oil demonstrated preserved synaptic integrity and an increase in nerve cell autophagy, ultimately responsible for a reduction in amyloid plaques common in the brain of those with Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Healthy fat is an essential component of the structure of your brain, which is composed of nearly 60 percent fat.  It should come as no surprise that your brain needs quality fat to function optimally. Although your brain is a small part of your complete bodyweight, it uses 20 percent of your metabolic energy. Essential fatty acids are required but cannot be synthesized in your body, and so must come from dietary sources.

 

Most people get well over what is needed of omega-6 fats, which are found in most vegetable oils, and not nearly enough omega-3 fats. One omega-3 fat, DHA, has been linked with the growth of your retina and visual cortex during development,12 visual acuity and reduction in depression. Research has found those suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have lower levels of DHA, and DHA may play a role in neuroprotection.

 

Unlike the highly damaged fats in vegetable oil, saturated fat is the optimal “clean” fuel for your brain and is one of the main components of brain cells. As such, it’s excellent for brain health, with one study demonstrating that those who ate more saturated fat reduced their risk of developing dementia while those who favored carbohydrates had a significantly increased risk.

 

To maintain optimal brain function, you need high-quality, undamaged omega-3s and omega-6 along with antioxidants to protect them from oxidation — not processed vegetable oils like canola oil. In summary, processed vegetable oils are bad for your brain health for a number of reasons, including the following:

 

They are loaded with damaged omega-6 fatty acids without protective antioxidants

They strip your liver of glutathione, which produces antioxidant enzymes, which further lowers your antioxidant defenses.  Most vegetable oils are made with genetically engineered (GE) crops designed to resist herbicides like glyphosate. As such, they may be more contaminated with glyphosate than non-GE crops, and glyphosate has been shown to disrupt the tight junctions in your gut and increase penetration of foreign invaders, especially heated proteins, which can cause allergies.  Vilification of Healthy Fats Has Contributed to Rising Rates of Disease.

 

Defaming healthy fats from traditional foods over the past decades has contributed to a rising rate of disease. Although healthy fats are used as fuel and leave you feeling full, many turned to eating carbohydrates when fats were discouraged. Carbs are metabolized and burned quickly, using insulin to usher blood glucose into the cell.

 

However, carbs trigger insulin resistance over time and increase the potential for crashing blood sugar levels two to three hours after a meal, leaving you hungry once again and increasing your food intake. This one mechanism increases your risk for obesity, which in turn increases your potential risk for insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

 

In a time when healthy saturated fats and dietary cholesterol were publicly slandered, Canada developed an alternative oil that met with the approval of the American Heart Association (AHA) — canola oil.   Now sitting in the first position of recommended oils for healthy cooking on the AHA website, author Praticò had this to say about the results of his canola oil study:

 

“Amyloid-beta 1-40 neutralizes the actions of amyloid 1-42, which means that a decrease in 1-40, like the one observed in our study, leaves 1-42 unchecked. In our model, this change in ratio resulted in considerable neuronal damage, decreased neural contacts, and memory impairment.”

 

In other words, consuming canola oil may increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, as the oil decreases the production of a protein that protects your brain against neuronal damage and cognitive impairment.

 

Toxicity of Canola Oil May Result From the Seed, Source or the Processing:

 

Just the way Canola oil is processed should be enough to encourage you to steer clear of consuming the product. But the risk associated with canola oil doesn’t stop with processing.

 

The canola plant was developed from rapeseed plants by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the University of Manitoba using plant breeding techniques. In fact, the Canola Council of Canada calls the development, “Canada’s greatest agricultural success story.”  Rapeseed oil was originally used as a motor lubricant during World War II.  Once the war ended, demand plummeted and Canada began an intensive program to make the product edible.

 

Before it could be ingested the erucic acid and glucosinolates had to be bred out of the plant, as they are dangerous to human health.  By the late 1970s, both chemicals were reduced to lower levels, and the plant was officially accepted as consumable. In the 1980s, research focused on shelf stability of the oil, animal diets and gaining a wider consumer acceptance.

 

By 2012, nearly all low-erucic acid rapeseed plants were genetically engineered to increase yield. Today, what began as a motor lubricant is now one of Canada’s most profitable crops.  Unfortunately, Health Canada, the equivalent of our FDA allows for the promotion of Canola oil use in Canada and globally.  The word “Canola” is a derivative of two words; Canada and oil.  Put these two words together and you have “Canola.”  It is too bad that due to economic greed in Canada, a beautiful and nature abundant country, is growing, exporting and promoting the use of a horrible, toxic oil to its citizens and the world.  Rapeseeds grow easily like weeds and are highly profitable for oil production especially now that Canola oil is touted as a “healthy” oil that is supposedly safe.  If I was a person who wanted to covertly plan the destruction of the human race a good way to do that would be to produce a toxic food ingredient that would generally sterilize the population slowly over time while being accepted as a “healthy” food product. Shame on Canada.

 

Canola oil is far from a health food, but unfortunately it is found in a huge number of processed foods such as chips, mixes, spreads, dressings and any products that use oils as an ingredient.  Read the labels of all the foods you buy so that you can avoid all attempts to dose you or your family with Canola oil.

 

Erucic acid as found in Canola oil is a long-chain fatty acid that is especially irritating to mucous membranes. Consuming canola oil has been associated with the development of fibrotic lesions on the heart, lungs including anemia, central nervous system degenerative disorders and prostate conditions.

 

A study evaluated the effect of canola oil on brain function without identifying which characteristic of the product triggers the problems. However, as most canola oil is produced from GE (genetically engineered) seeds, using plants originally unfit for human consumption and taken through a process that injects multiple chemicals and bleaches, it isn’t surprising the study was so conclusive.  The conclusion is that Canola oil is unfit for human consumption and it is toxic.

 

Genetic Engineering Raises Health Risk With Each GE Food Consumed:

 

This documentary details what happens when we use GE foods. Scientists are only beginning to uncover the long-term effects of splicing the genes of one living creature into another or developing a plant immune to the effects of herbicides.

 

However, some companies are not convinced by independently funded research and have relied on information from organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and World Health Organization (WHO), which claim there is no credible evidence that GE foods are unsafe. However, even WHO admits:

 

“Different GM [genetically modified] organisms include different genes inserted in different ways. This means that individual GM foods and their safety should be assessed on a case-by-case basis and that it is not possible to make general statements on the safety of all GM foods.”

 

In 2015, the European Commission decided it was in the best interest of their citizens to say “no” to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) within their borders, and all 28 countries required labeling of foods containing GMO products.  This is in stark contrast to Canada and the U.S., where most canola grown is GE and products created from it not labeled as such.

 

Organic, Non-GMO oils are the best for your health. I highly suggest you read the labels on a dedicated oil product or oil containing product before using it to determine is the oil is organic and Non-GMO.

 

Healthy Cooking Options:  Cooking with nearly all vegetable oils is problematic as they don’t tolerate high heat. Healthier options for cooking include pastured, organic butter, virgin coconut oil or ghee (clarified butter). Olive oil and sesame oil add wonderful flavor and healthy fats to your foods, but they have very low smoke points and should be used unheated in salad dressings or drizzled over foods for flavor.

 

The problem with Fish oils is that they are usually processed with chemicals, heat and solvents which change the oils and leave toxic residues.  This processing is done to prevent oxidation of the oil, otherwise, fish oil becomes rapidly rancid.   If you are looking for a good source of Omega 3’s try a plant source like eating walnuts or a Red raspberry oil supplement (www.metaorganics.com for “Vege-Omega3”).

 

Good quality oils, especially plant source oils from traditional foods are your healthiest choice to support your good health.

 

Wishing you Health and Happiness,

 

 

Dr. Scott Treadway

 

© September, 2018