How It's Made - Canola Oil
Panos EgglezosCited 8× on HN, 2021–2023
documentary · general · evergreen · 2021–2023 on HN
A short 'How It's Made' television segment showing the industrial process of turning canola seed into cooking oil. It walks through pressing, solvent extraction and refining steps.
Mostly used by seed-oil skeptics in nutrition threads as a visual argument that canola oil is heavily processed.
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8 comments from Hacker News
“Refined oil” has a specific documented definition, and to be clear I’m talking about chemical refinement. See here: ▶ this video The distinction you are making is irrelevant and trollsome
> “Refined oil” has a specific documented definition Care to link it? > and to be clear I’m talking about chemical refinement. See here: ▶ this video What makes it "chemical"? Does the refinement process chemically alter the molecular structure of the lipid molecules?
▶ this video “How Its Made - Canola Oil” This was all I needed to see to know I don’t want to consume it ever again.
For context, why I added "seed oils" in there. Once I saw the difference between Canola Oil (what I used the most up until I learned) production [1] and Olive Oil production [2], I never went back. For those interested, I also use tallow and coconut oil. I found/find it deeply disturbing that they say stuff like Canola is "healthy" when the production process sounds/looks like something you'd expect to describe the pit under a Valvoline. [1] ▶ this video [2] link
Whether or not peer-reviewed studies show an impact on health, seed oils are just kind of gross: ▶ this video Compare this to making butter - shake up some cream for a little bit to separate out the buttermilk.
Just looking at macro fat breakdowns (per cronometer.com) it's definitely one of the better vegetable oils, but still not awesome -- 28% PUFA, 2/1 n6/n3. Which isn't terrible, but like 2.5x the PUFA content of olive oil, and way more than a cooking fat like tallow or butter. (I'm assuming in the above your goal is to keep PUFA low and n6/n3 balanced.) There's also some animal studies w/ canola oil specifically that showed adverse effects, though I don't have them at hand. Just looking at the characterization of fatty acids by unsaturatedness is omitting details which can matter -- the particular makeup of the fats (chain length -- a fatty acid w/ the same unsaturatedness can have varying effects on metabolism at different chain lengths; cis vs trans) as well as all the other chemicals that are in the oil, whether beneficial or harmful. As one example, canola oil used to contain high levels of erucic acid, which is a 9-chain monounsaturated fat generally considered toxic. Over time the levels have gotten lower. You might enjoy this video showing how canola oil is made: ▶ this video
yes, they are difficult to cut out. Your options are everywhere very much narrowed. But In 90% of cases I've been able to find a satisfactory alternative. It is interesting how two simple rules (no seed oil, no corn syrup) almost entirely prevent you from putting terrible things in your body. It also repeatedly enforces a more mindful attitude towards diet. I experimented with removing seed oils for the past six months or so. Almost every year in the winter I get a lot of pain in my joints and especially where previous injuries have occurred. Halfway through this season I've had very little discomfort, and it has been a bad winter where I am. Recommend checking out this "How It's Made" segment on the process of making this stuff comestible (it involves bleach, very high temperatures and chemical refinement): ▶ this video
> Vegetable oils are produced by stepping on or chewing nuts or vegetables. Not really. Rapeseed/Canola oil in particular involves extensive use of solvents, bleaches, etc. ▶ this video