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Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

I tried to get my parents to switch from canola—universally used in India and Bangladesh these days—to time-tested mustard oil, and they were like “mhmm.” :-/

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The story is a lot more interesting than I could have imagined:

  It’s particularly popular in the northern state of West Bengal in India, where it’s used in dishes such as achaars, a pickled condiment used to add an acidic spice to a wide variety of dishes.

  Through careful breeding processes, the group of scientists were able to produce rapeseed plants with low levels of erucic acid. The oil, later to be named canola oil (can- for Canada, -ola which stands for “oil, low acid”) soon became a commercialized, easily marketable hit with both the public and science community alike (Fisher, 2020).

https://sites.bu.edu/gastronomyblog/2022/05/18/the-marvelous...

  The FDA has approved one brand of edible mustard seed oil that’s produced from a cultivar bred explicitly for its low levels of erucic acid.

https://www.andersonintl.com/the-controversy-surrounding-mus...

Still digging for the brand

That's ironic, because rapeseed and mustard seed oils are about as closely related as any two food oils can be.

Other than the genetic engineering and solvent-based extraction of canola oil. But yes, that was my parents reaction as well. Regardless, it’s just butter, ghee, and sometimes olive or avocado oil at my house. Because food and cleanliness taboos are sub-scientific.

Totally agree with you. I do not understand how this viewpoint upsets people.

I don’t think people eating butter instead of canola oil is what upsets people.

It’s people ignoring the mountain of evidence that such a switch would be a backwards step for health outcomes and claiming the opposite because they read a book by the usual rogues’ gallery of science misinterpreters (Taubes, Teicholz, Shanahan).

ant-seed oil is anti-scientific and prays on people being ignorant about the research on health outcomes and relies on emotional appeals and appeals to nature such as "the genetic engineering and solvent-based extraction of canola oil".

Calling the rejection of a novel highly processed food replacement like this anti-scientific is comically illogical.

Who are you trying to kid? You listed sunflower seed oil alongside canola --- you're presumably just as opposed to mustard seed oil.

It would be funny if the one seed oil you're OK with is mustard seed oil, the oil closest in composition to canola, the one oil anyone has a legit gripe about (it doesn't taste very good).

you care more about morally loaded terms than research and call me illogical. ok

I don't know what time-tested means but mustard oil is banned in EU/US for edible uses due to high erucic acid. So you parents were right!

Mustard oil has been used in the subcontinent since the Indus valley civilization 4,500 years ago. It’s extremely well understood. Unlike solvent extraction of oil.

You write this as if there isn't controversy about mustard oil, which is banned in the United States because it contains high levels of a likely heart toxin ("Among South Asians living in the US, ASCVD risk is four-fold higher than the local population") and limited throughout Europe. The entire point of solvent extraction is convert rapeseed oil, which would otherwise be similarly problematic (they're basically the same plant!) into something less toxic than mustard oil (that's literally why it's called "canola").

I don't care either way; let the mustard oil flow. I don't buy the mustard oil thing either. Just don't pretend that mustard oil is somehow healthier than canola. Use whichever fat tastes best to you.

Canola oil is simply a mustard-seed oil from a hybrid mustard bred for low erucic acid content. Solvent extraction is widely used, but not something that defines canola oil. Cold-pressed and expeller-pressed canola oil are also produced on a smaller scale.

No, in populations which traditionally use mustard oil heart problems are common. So it's time tested to cause heart failure.

Is that true in a meaningful way? Bangladesh’s life expectancy at 65 is higher than richer countries like China, Vietnam, and Jordan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Asian_countries_by_lif...

Seams not all mustard oil is Banned in the EU.

I've got a bottle of Uncle Roy's cold pressed extra virgin "spicy" mustard seed oil at my local Spar.

The label reads "erucic acid free", so I'm guessing they somehow remove it?

It even has the awful pun of "The healthy Oilternative".

I understand they also remove (most of?) it from Canola Oil.

Thanks for letting me know, I'll try to get my hands on it.

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