Canola cuts the mustard

While we all know of the WHO recommendation to keep rotating one's cooking oils to avail of all-round health benefits, the hunt for the "healthiest oil" continues.

Close on the heels of India's new-found obsession with olive oil "" now the preferred medium in several homes and even in desi khana restaurants, though its advantages vis-à-vis Indian cooking are not so convincing "" comes the launch of yet another import being marketed as a "heart-healthy" alternative.

Canola oil, made from genetically modified rapeseed, is produced primarily in Canada and has recently been introduced to the Indian market. It comes with several well-documented benefits and the additional advantage of being relatively inexpensive. Is it an option, then, for your kitchen?

In Canada and Japan, canola makes up over 50 per cent of all the vegetable oil consumed. In the US, it is the second most-consumed oil. Studies say it has the lowest content of saturated fats among all oils, and high levels of monounsaturated fats, antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.

In addition, it is a rich source of Vitamin E antioxidants. It also has a high burning point (unlike olive oil, that can't withstand high temperatures and gets altered chemically if you use it for frying), which makes it suitable for Indian cooking. And it is odourless and colourless, points out chef Manu from the Olive Bar and Kitchen in Bangalore, who tried cooking with it recently. So it would seem this is a good choice.

Yet things have not always been so rosy for canola. In 1996, it was controversially linked both to glaucoma and mad cow disease, although later the charges were found to be unsubstantiated. And in 2007, it has its detractors "" people who frown upon anything genetically modified.

On the other hand, counters Dr Seema Puri, head of nutrition at the Institute of Home Economics and a WHO advisor, "so many other things are also genetically modified... the corn that you get, for instance... so you should stop eating all popcorn too!" But while the feasibility debate rages on, there is another, more basic question that pops up: is canola really needed in a country where so many other local alternatives are available?

Dr Shikha Sharma, a Delhi-based nutritionist and cardiologist by training, points to studies at AIIMS and elsewhere that seek to establish the benefits of mustard oil, for instance.

Traditionally used in Indian cooking, experts have now started comparing it with olive oil. It has the additional benefit of being more accessible. Sharma explains that olive oil is deemed good for the heart because it is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, because it has a good balance between omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, and because it contains antioxidants and vitamins.

"But for one to avail of these, the oil should be extracted using the cold press method." (When olive oil is extracted in this manner, the first extraction, pale green in colour and full of grassy notes, is called "extra virgin", the most flavourful and beneficial.

Subsequent extractions are not as precious; "pure" olive oil is the third extract, which undergoes filtering and some refining, and finally "light" olive oil, often blended, undergoes considerable refining and loses almost all the famed benefits.

This is also most often used for frying. Since olive oil cannot stand high temperatures, extra virgin should only be used as a dressing in salads and in Mediterranean-style cooking.) In India, an equivalent of the cold press is the traditional "kachi dhani" oil. And one oil widely available as such is mustard.

A joint study done by AIIMS and St John's Medical College, Bangalore, some time ago claimed that the risk of coronary heart disease was cut by almost 70 per cent with mustard oil consumption.

Professor S C Manchanda, former head of the department of cardiothoracic diseases at AIIMS, who conducted the study, was quoted as attributing this to the fact that "Mustard oil, especially the one available in India, is very low in saturated fatty acids and high in unsaturated ones." On the flip side is its strong odour; and, more importantly, in the absence of strict controls there is always the danger of adulteration with argemone oil, which is toxic.

But mustard (incidentally coming from the same rapeseed family as canola) is not the only Indian oil to stand vindicated. In fact, even the much-maligned coconut oil, researchers now say, is not so bad because the saturated fats that it contains are different from artery-clogging "animal" ones.

Then, there are relatively new types like rice-bran oil (also available in many blends that cater to the "heart mart") that not only have a good balance of poly- and monounsaturated fatty acids but are also "cool according to ayurveda and thus good for digestion, especially during summers", as Sharma suggests.

If this has left you confused, it is because the only firm measure that experts agree on is rotating oils, since none is perfect. And do include a bit of ghee in your daily diet. One thumbrule to follow is "less refined is better". That, and, of course, no hydrogenated vanaspati and margarine, please.