Don’t buy the hype. Canola oil is good for you

Critics call it toxic, but decades of research prove the health benefits of canola oil

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Canola oil, once hailed as a Canadian innovation that reshaped diets worldwide, is now under attack.

A growing chorus of critics is portraying it as toxic and unhealthy despite decades of scientific evidence to the contrary. This wave of misinformation doesn’t just mislead consumers: it threatens both public health and a cornerstone of Canada’s agri-food economy.

The backlash has largely centred on the idea that canola belongs to a category of so-called “seed oils” (a broad term for oils extracted from plants like soybeans, corn, sunflower and canola), which critics portray as inflammatory, toxic and responsible for a host of modern health ailments. Some U.S. advocacy movements, including Make America Healthy Again, have gone so far as to label it a dietary threat and call for warning labels on foods containing it.

From an economic and scientific perspective, these claims collapse under scrutiny. Canola oil is one of the most studied and well-characterized edible oils in the world. The evidence, built over decades of clinical research, shows consistent health benefits, particularly when canola replaces saturated fats in the diet.

A 2020 systematic review published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases found that canola oil consumption significantly lowered both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. LDL, or low-density lipoprotein, is often called “bad” cholesterol because high levels can lead to plaque buildup in arteries and increase the risk of heart disease. Two years later, a feeding trial published in The Journal of Nutrition showed that both conventional and high-oleic canola oils reduced total cholesterol, LDL and apoB—a protein linked to cardiovascular risk—within six weeks. These effects were comparable to those of olive oil, which has long been considered the gold standard for heart-healthy fats.

Additional research supports these findings. An eight-week randomized trial among women with Type 2 diabetes, published in Nutrition & Metabolism (2019), found that replacing sunflower oil with canola reduced C-reactive protein, a key marker of inflammation. More recently, a 2025 meta-analysis in Nutrition Journal reported modest but statistically meaningful reductions in body weight and body mass index compared with other oils.

Even population-level data point in the same direction. A 2025 report from Johns Hopkins University revealed that higher blood concentrations of linoleic acid, the dominant omega-6 fatty acid in canola and commonly found in vegetable oils, were associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes. The very compound accused of being harmful may, in fact, play a protective role.

This narrative often stems from laboratory or animal studies conducted under extreme conditions that bear little resemblance to everyday cooking practices. In normal culinary use, canola oil’s stability and safety are well documented. The American Heart Association and numerous health authorities continue to recommend replacing saturated fats with unsaturated ones such as canola to reduce cardiovascular risk.

The more pressing concern is the broader impact of such misinformation. When consumers are persuaded that canola oil is “toxic,” they often revert to butter, lard or tropical oils high in saturated fat—choices that undo decades of progress in public health. This is not an advance in nutrition literacy; it’s a retreat into nostalgia mistaken for science.

From an economic standpoint, the stakes are significant. The canola sector contributes more than $40 billion annually to Canada’s GDP and supports more than 200,000 jobs, many of them in rural communities. Canada supplies about one-fifth of the world’s canola, and the crop stands as a rare example of a homegrown agricultural innovation that became a global staple. Undermining consumer confidence in this product risks not only distorting public health messaging but also damaging a cornerstone of the national agri-food economy.

This episode also highlights a broader flaw in contemporary food discourse. Complex issues like diet quality, affordability and sustainability are too often reduced to simplistic narratives about good and evil foods. Vilifying one ingredient allows activists and pundits to appear decisive without engaging the more difficult realities of nutrition, access and behaviour.

Canola oil is not flawless. Like any cooking oil, it can degrade under poor storage or extreme heat, and not every processed food containing it is healthy. But when used appropriately, as part of a diet emphasizing fruits, vegetables, grains and lean proteins, its benefits are well supported.

Writing off canola oil based on misinformation doesn’t just confuse the public; it could reverse decades of heart-health progress and weaken a vital part of Canada’s agri-food economy.

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Canadian professor and researcher in food distribution and policy. He is senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and co-host of The Food Professor Podcast. He is frequently cited in the media for his insights on food prices, agricultural trends, and the global food supply chain.