(NaturalNews) Olive oil comes from olive, grapeseed oil comes from grape seeds, peanut oil comes from peanuts and canola oil comes from... rapeseed. The plant known as "rape," from a Latin word for "turnip," is a domesticated crop in the widely cultivated
Brassicaceae family (also known as the mustard family, the cabbage family, or the cruciferous vegetables). Although the word has disturbing connotations today, during World War II people thought nothing of referring to "rapeseed," and the oil from those seeds was used for industrial purposes.
The real problem with the name "rapeseed oil" is that the oil was so toxic that
the FDA banned it for human consumption in 1956. So when Canadian growers bred a new variety of rapeseed in the 1970s with a lower content of the toxic
erucic acid, they decided they needed a new name for it.
The term canola was coined from "Canadian oil, low acid" to convince consumers that this oil was safe to eat. And while "canola" was originally a registered trademark, the term became so widely known that the trademark was eventually abandoned, and "canola" became the default term in many countries for any low-erucic rapeseed oil.
Canola oil is a very effective
insecticide, and it is the primary ingredient in many "organic" (non-chemical) pesticide control products sprayed on vegetables to kill bugs. I covered this in my "canola oil pesticide" video:
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=AEE77E1636E97778AB05E6F31D6B1C27
Source: 25 Amazing Facts About Food, authored by Mike Adams and David Guiterrez. This report reveals surprising things about where your food comes from and what's really in it!
Download the full report (FREE) by clicking here. Inside, you'll learn 24 more amazing but true facts about foods, beverages and food ingredients. Instant download of the complete PDF. All 25 facts are documented and true.
Additional Sources:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rape
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/SoybeansOilcrops/Canola.htm
http://www.canola-council.org/chapter2.aspx
http://www.foodista.com/food/KLDGDS5L/canola-oil
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a passion for teaching people how to improve their health He is a prolific writer and has published thousands of articles, interviews, reports and consumer guides, and he is well known as the creator of popular downloadable preparedness programs on financial collapse, emergency food storage, wilderness survival and home defense skills. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In mid 2010, Adams produced TV.NaturalNews.com, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates.
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.