Bad image for canola

[Lifer]

R.Reid what do you think of the Canola Council plan?

[ward.toma]

Trans fats are a known health issue. It is not an opinion, they negatively impact the cholesterol balance. While trans fats are bad, saturated fats are only marginally better. Because of this Health Canada included trans as part of total saturated fat on the new food labels. More information on trans fat can be found at http://www.canola.org.

The new recommended food guide lines in the US call for the majority of fats consumed to be healthy ones. The Canola Council of Canada worked with the US Canola Association in lobbying the US government to make this change in its dietary guidelines. Go to http://www.uscanola.com for more info on this. The CCC is working with Health Canada in its re-design as well.

Trans fats create an opportunity for the canola industry. Canola has a solution in higher stability oils. Even standard canola oil used in the fry market is 0 trans and low in saturated fat.

It was noted that some companies have moved to safflower oil. However, just because they added safflower to the mix, does not mean they abandoned canola oil. The most likely case is that they added safflower because they can’t get the volume of the high stability oil they require and safflower is the next best, cheapest source.

Trans fats are an issue for the hydrogenated vegetable oil products market. This affects canola primarily in the baked goods business as manufacturers may switch to high sat fat products. It is not a large problem in the margarine market as trans fat free margarine is easily made, just add saturated fat rather than hydrogenated vegetable oil. Overall, this formulation is still healthier than butter, which has a high level of the not recommended saturated fat. Research is on going at the University of Alberta and elsewhere into making low sat, trans free margarine.

I hope this helps, if anyone wants more information please contact me at ward.toma@canola.ab.ca

Ward Toma
Alberta Canola Producers Commission

[Lifer]

Mr. Toma I would like to understand a report made on one of the national news reports that Trans fats are ten times worse than saturated fats.

Is this true? and is there real science to back this claim?

[wd9]

Mr Toma. I understand that the government claims there is 3% trans fats in canola oil. Is there factual evidence of this or are they speaking without objective data.

[ward.toma]

Lifer and wd9

The American Heart Association has posted information on its website that states, in summary, that the effect of transfat is to increase bad cholesterol and decease the good. What trans does is throw the blood lipid balance out worse than saturated fats do. However the AHA states states the magnitude has not been clarified. The various studies have shown the effect, but have not been able to come up with even a range of magnitude. I do not know where 10% came from. The AHA website can be found through the Canola Council of Canada website at http://www.canola-council.org.

As to trans in canola oil, it is true that the current processing method will produce a small (<1%) amount of trans in the oil. The heat causes the trans to form. The Canola Council of Canada has a Canola Quality Study underway to determine this, and other quality issues. Furthermore, by introducing some changes into the processing of canola oil, the amount of trans can be greatly reduced. The Canola Council is meeting with the crushers to discuss this issue. To my knowledge the government has not been able to prove its 3% figure, and no one knows where that figure came from. If anyone can provide this information to me I would appreciate it.

Ward Toma
General Manager, Alberta Canola Producers Commission

[Lifer]

Thanks for the prompt reply.