Everyone has a favourite culinary oil in their kitchen, you may use different oils depending on the occasion. Some people worry that some oils may be ‘bad’, and others are ‘good,’ often picked up from different marketing messages, urban myths, or the occasional extreme sensationalist social media campaign.

Like most oils on the shelf, rapeseed oil has had its share of unfair criticism during it’s time. So, in this post – the second in our values campaign – we wanted to address some of the myths and talk more about all of the good stuff rapeseed oil brings to your health and your kitchen.

Balance of healthy fats

Rapeseed oil has an excellent balance of different fats which support our general health and well-being, including heart health and maintaining healthy cholesterol levels, brain, skin and eye tissue development. It also has the lowest saturated fat of any culinary oil at 6%, compared to olive oil 14%, butter 51%, coconut oil 91%. Read more about fats here.

 

Omega 3 is an essential fatty acid that we get from our diets to regulate cholesterol, aid brain and eye health as well as other bodily metabolic functions. It is found in certain nuts and seeds, including rapeseed, with a content of 10% in cold pressed rapeseed oil, compared to nothing in many oils including palm, sunflower and coconut oils, and only 1% in olive oil.

Not only is cold pressed rapeseed oil the only high temperature culinary oil to contain Omega-3, it also has the perfect balance of Omega-6 which we need in small amounts in our diet. We require around two parts of Omega-6 for every one part of Omega-3 – the exact ratio found in cold pressed rapeseed oil. It’s an important balance to strike for good health, but we often see it go off course – especially in the case of highly processed western diets which can result in people consuming excessive amounts of Omega 6 – leading to negative health outcomes like poor heart health, inflammatory disease and depression.

Enriched with vitamins

An excellent source of vitamins E, K and provitamin A – cold pressed rapeseed oil is a great way to consume small amounts of these daily vitamins for general health.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, whilst serving as a natural immune booster. Vitamin K regulates blood clotting, whilst provitamin A (also known as

a carotenoid) is an important antioxidant in the prevention of various types of cancers, as well as playing a crucial role in heart and eye health.

Sunflower oil is a very good source of Vitamin E at 73%, with rapeseed and olive oils at 30%, whilst coconut oil only has 1%. Cold pressed rapeseed oil and other brassica crops are good sources of vitamin K. Whilst rapeseed oil has around 5 times the antioxidant properties of Carotenoids (provitamin A) compared to olive oil.

Powered by Plant Sterols

Plant sterols are natural, fat-soluble compounds found in plants that are very efficient at reducing cholesterol levels. They are considered to be the most effective single food that can lower cholesterol as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Rapeseed oil is an excellent source of these healthy compounds, with over double the sterol content of extra virgin cold pressed olive oil. Much of the plant sterol properties are lost in refined oils, but our cold pressing method ensures that Mellow Yellow maintains these cholesterol-reducing properties, making it a preferable choice for health in comparison to refined rapeseed oil. Interestingly, the plant sterols that are lost in the refined rapeseed oil process, are isolated and sold on to food manufacturers, to add back into products allowing them to claim the health benefit: “contains plant sterols.” An unnecessary complication some might argue!

Erucic acid

Erucic acid is a bitter-tasting, mono-unsaturated fatty acid produced in many green plants, constituting 30 to 60% of the total fatty acid content of mustard seed and traditional rapeseed varieties. There has been much speculation on the negative effects of erucic acid on human health, though no confirmed negative health effects have been formally documented in humans.

This combination of bitterness and potential health concerns have led to many varieties of rapeseed oil being naturally bred with lower levels of erucic acid (with a legal maximum level of under 2% for culinary rapeseed oil), resulting in a more subtle, nutty flavour. At Mellow Yellow, the content is in the region of less than 0.02% – a result of the rigorous testing we carry out on the best quality seeds before we press a single drop of oil.

The difference is Mellow Yellow

We believe a healthy, varied and balanced diet trumps the wide array of manufactured nutritional supplements you can buy off the shelf. It’s championing home cooking instead of processed food. And making authentic ingredients that are grown ethically and sustainably for health and not quick financial gain. That’s the Yellow Mellow ethos. That’s the Mellow Yellow value.

We hope you try our Rapeseed oil in your recipes, bring a little heat to the table with our subtle award-winning Chilli Oil and use our delicious salad dressings to add flavour and support the digestion of fat-soluble vitamins in your salads.

Why not browse our recipes and try something new? Not only will you be getting great quality and value for money, but a big win for health too