Is Rapeseed (Canola) Oil Healthy? Erucic Acid and Seed Oil Claims
Rapeseed oil is the most common cooking oil in UK kitchens, and a target of online "seed oil" warnings. Here is what it contains, what erucic acid is, and what health bodies actually advise.
What it is
Rapeseed oil is pressed from the seeds of the rape plant, the bright yellow fields common across the UK. Canola is the name for rapeseed varieties bred in Canada in the 1970s to contain very little erucic acid. The rapeseed oil sold for cooking today comes from these low-erucic varieties. Bottles labelled simply "vegetable oil" in the UK are often 100% rapeseed oil.
Fat profile
Rapeseed oil has the lowest saturated fat of the common cooking oils, at around 7%. Most of its fat is monounsaturated, and it also contains the plant omega-3 fat alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). The NHS advises choosing unsaturated oils, and names rapeseed oil as an example, in place of saturated fats such as butter, lard and ghee.
Erucic acid
Old rapeseed varieties contained large amounts of erucic acid, which caused heart problems in laboratory animals. In 2016 EFSA set a tolerable daily intake of 7mg per kilogram of body weight, and EU law sets maximum erucic acid levels for vegetable oils, with stricter limits for infant formula. These limits still apply in Great Britain. Cooking oil made from modern low-erucic varieties is well within them.
What about "seed oil" warnings online?
Social media posts often claim that seed oils, including rapeseed, cause inflammation or chronic disease. These claims are not supported by the current evidence from major health bodies. Advice from the NHS, the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association is to replace saturated fats with unsaturated oils such as rapeseed. Cold-pressed rapeseed oil is extracted without solvents. Refined oil can be extracted with hexane, and EU and GB law limits hexane left in the oil to 1mg per kilogram.
Cooking with it
Refined rapeseed oil copes with high heat well and is suitable for roasting and frying. As with any oil, do not keep reusing the same frying oil many times, or heat it until it smokes, because it breaks down and forms unwanted compounds. Use it in moderate amounts: like all oils, it is energy-dense.
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