Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil

by Susan Baraban
(London, England)

Visitor Asks:

Would the above type of fat qualify in glycemic terms and healthiness? The bottle I purchased is dark to preserve it.

Lifetimefatloss Answers:

As far as being low glycemic, all fats are low glycemic including seed oils. Light is what is damaging to oils so the fact that it's in a dark bottle means the company is taking care with your rapeseed oil. That means it is likely an unrefined oil which is what you need to look for on a label. The healthiest oils are unrefined oils.

According to my source of food oils information, Udo Erasmus, who pioneered technology for pressing and packaging healthful oils, cold press doesn't mean much. Apparently, some companies take this to mean that no external heat is applied to seeds while they are being pressed. Therefore heat can be applied before and after pressing and the pressing itself produces heat. He says it is almost impossible to find commercially pressed oils without heat. Virgin olive oil is an exception.

The rapeseed oil you get in England is marketed here in North America as canola oil. Canola oil from what I read is in the superunsaturated W3 family and contains up to 10% alpha-linolenic acid LNA making it an acceptable source of the essential fatty acids. The richest source is flaxseed oil with 50%. But you don't need to get your essential fatty acids from the oil you use because you can get them in other foods like fish, raw nuts, seeds, avocado and flaxseed meal.

For low temperature cooking it's better to use butter, virgin olive or coconut oil, unrefined peanut or sesame oil. You can read all about the most healthful fats here.