<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Many thanks and my apologies for the delay in sending out the responses I 
received on canola oil.  Due to the large volume, I am mostly able to include 
the definitive messages (as opposed to the anecdotal ones).  The most telling 
response came from Ann Whelan, editor of the Gluten Free Living who wrote an 
excellent article., "The Non-Crisis of '98" in one of her newsletters that 
she mailed us (we subscribe to the newsletter and it is excellent). In a 
separate message she wrote that her staff researched canola oil twice and 
both times found no reason to believe it might contain gluten.  

Note some of the other mixed responses that follow:

It is GF.  It does cause diarrhea in some people if they have CD or not.  
Some people think that everything that causes diarrhea must have gluten in 
it.

I would suggest you to ask your question at this other excellent GF forum:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/celiac/messages
There are kind and knowledgeable people there, including doctors with CD, and 
an extensive GF product list, and I recall having seen msgs with researches 
about canola oil.  (we can safely have it)

Canola oil has a slight laxative effect on some people, but not because it's 
gf. There are other oils, so no problem for those people.

About 1 year to 18 months ago GF Living Magazine did an article on canola 
oil.  You may want to talk to them about a reprint.  But essentially they 
said the same thing I had been reading in a lot of places, the dangers of 
canola oil are urban legend that have taken on a life of there 
own.  Further, since this is not processed with or started with a gluten 
containing grain there should be no gluten in it.
Now I said should.  Because we have all seen all the variations and 
flavored oils on the market.  But, as long as it is really canola oil and 
only canola oil you should have not problems.

The problem with canola is the possibility for cross contamination, and 
because a canola seed and a wheat grain are so different, they should be able 
to clean out the wheat from the canola pretty easily.  If you have reason to 
be concerned about wheat in canola, then you also need to look at all other 
grains and oilseeds, which suffer from the same problem (for example, wheat 
is the most common dockage (ie contamination) in flax when it arrives to the 
crusher).  Most people consider pure canola oil safe, and I think most 
manufacturers will put it on their GF list.  

Canola is a member of the mustard family. By itself it is most definitely 
gf. The issue is that the fields may be contaminated with gluten-bearing 
grains, especially wheat, as a result of crop rotation, birds & wind 
spreading seed, etc. If the grain is not cleaned before processing, you 
could end up with wheat oil in your canola oil (admittedly, at very low 
levels). Some people feel this is enough of a problem to avoid canola oil. 
I suspect it isn't really. I avoid canola oil because it tastes nasty and 
burns at an extremely low temperature compared to olive and peanut oil (my 
oils of choice).

Here's a link to a website with pretty much everything you'd ever want to 
know about canola 
<http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/nexus/Brassica_rapeseed_nex.html>

  Your reaction to the bad news about canola oil was my reaction
initially.  It all sounded like a bunch of reactionary emotional hoopla
to me.  But now, I'm a convert!  LOL!  I not only avoid canola oil but
all commercially prepared & refined vegetable oils since reading Sally
Fallon's amazing cook book, NOURISHING TRADITIONS.  Sally, a courageous
woman taking on the powerful food giants and their big money cronies, has
really done her homework.  I'll believe Sally before I believe what the
$billion food processing industry says to defend their nutritionally
bankrupt and potentially harmful processed foods. 
    Sally quotes liberally from many, many sources a few of which are
available in book form listed here: 
Know Your Fats by Mary G. Enig; 
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price, DDS 
The Cholesterol Myths by Uffe Ravnskov, MD, PhD 
Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by Blaylock, MD 
Solved: The Riddle of Illness by Stephen Langer, MD 
Food Enzymes for Health and Longevity by Howell, MD 
The Milk Book by William Douglas, MD 

On a final note, some of Annies Naturals GF salad dressings contain canola 
oil.  Nuff said!

P&M Strumpf 



 

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