Rapeseed oil is a vegetable oil that is produced mainly in India, Canada, Pakistan from rape seeds.
Extracted from the bright yellow plant of the Brassicaceae family that grows in some hilly areas of the world, rapeseed oil was commonly used since the 13th century for street lighting, for example in northern Europe; much in vogue in the 1960s was its use as an "ecological" fuel .
By dint of refining it and transforming it genetically, it also ended up in food.
Rapeseed oil: erucic acid against polyunsaturated fatty acids
Thus, the alimentary use of rapeseed oil was born in the mid-nineteenth century, but studies of the effects on human health that relegated it to low-quality products did not achieve great success .
The cause would be erucic acid, a cardiotoxic lipid, which would have negative effects on growth and disorders affecting the liver as well as the heart .
Given the problem, find the solution: let's eliminate it! The road that the manufacturing industries have taken, was in fact that of artificially lowering the levels of this acid to make the oil more edible . Initially through traditional agricultural techniques, taking advantage of crossings, environmental stress and selections; subsequently through transegic techniques .
Now, precisely because there is more choice in production, greater critical consumption and the desire to know what is better for health and the environment, the question is hotly debated.
Rapeseed oil contains, in addition to erucic acid, a string of fatty acids, both monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic, gadoleic), polyunsaturated fatty acids, Omega3 and Omega6 and saturated fatty acids (palmitic, stearic).
Case wants that, in 2006, the FDA Food and Drug Administration of the United States of America has approved a declaration concerning the reduction of cardiovascular diseases linked to the consumption of this oil, or rather of its mutant varieties, by virtue of its acid content polyunsaturated fats mentioned above.
Given this and the history of the oil, perhaps we worry too much about where erucic acid is or is not contained - because with all the possible varieties and mutations of rape, developed to modify the distribution of fatty acids, with acid erucico in some cases equal to little more than zero, we can speak of as many as 6 main categories of oil - and to what extent there are contained polyunsaturated fatty acids, rather than of its composition recreated at table and genetically modified .
Where canola oil is found?
Rapeseed oil, and its cousin, canola oil, are therefore modified vegetable oils that are also obtained through innumerable refining processes, such as bleaching, deodorization for example, which make it clear and odorless thanks to the use of chemical solvents . Now: these solvents are not just good for your health.
Snacks, snacks, biscuits, ready-to-eat soups, breadsticks, margarine, frozen dishes of all sorts: it is useless to list the infinite number of foods in which the much-charged oil falls, and it is included because it is extremely cheap.
Of course, in Germany, where it is appreciated and known as rapsöl, where the first eco-sustainable rapeseed oil in the world seems to be cultivated, it is also found pure in the supermarket shelves. Probably here the erucic acid content is very low, probably only obtained through careful mechanical processes. But how can we go back?
Let's simplify our life. In fact, considering that Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are equally present in other oils (such as linseed oil, hemp oil or walnut oil, without mentioning the extremely precious cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil), why not opt for a less artificial choice?
Freedom for everyone, therefore, for one's own health, but also for the environment . In fact, it appears that in countries like Canada, where rape is cultivated in the genetically modified variety, bees, known as sentinel insects, have fallen in number and also in pollination activity. (source: Esa article - Ecological Society of America).
