Stick with olive oil . . .
World War II saw high demand for the rapeseed oil (Canola) as a lubricant for the rapidly increasing number of steam engines in naval and merchant ships as machinists found rapeseed oil clung to water or steam-washed metal surfaces better than other lubricants.
When the war blocked European and Asian sources of rapeseed oil, a critical shortage developed and Canada began to expand its limited rapeseed production.
After the war, demand declined sharply and farmers began to look for other uses for the plant and its products. Edible rapeseed oil extracts were first put on the market in 1956–1957, but these suffered from several unacceptable characteristics. Rapeseed oil had a distinctive taste and a disagreeable greenish colour due to the presence of chlorophyll.
It also contained a high concentration of erucic acid. Experiments on animals have pointed to the possibility that erucic acid, consumed in large quantities, may cause heart damage.
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