AbstractIn recent years consumption of canola oil has increased due to lower cost compared with olive oil and the perception that it shares its health benefits. However, no data are available on the effect of canola oil intake on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. Herein, we investigated the effect of chronic daily consumption of canola oil on the phenotype of a mouse model of AD that develops both plaques and tangles (3xTg). To this end mice received either regular chow or a chow diet supplemented with canola oil for 6 months. At this time point we found that chronic exposure to the canola-rich diet resulted in a significant increase in body weight and impairments in their working memory together with decrease levels of post-synaptic density protein-95, a marker of synaptic integrity, and an increase in the ratio of insoluble Aβ 42/40. No significant changes were observed in tau phosphorylation and neuroinflammation. Taken together, our findings do not support a beneficial effect of chronic canola oil consumption on two important aspects of AD pathophysiology which includes memory impairments as well as synaptic integrity. While more studies are needed, our data do not justify the current trend aimed at replacing olive oil with canola oil.
Metadata: Crossref. Abstracts retain their original authors’ rights.
In the conversation
Original HN comments, with labels from simple text rules. A label describes the whole comment and may miss context or irony. Read the discussion to make up your own mind. About the labels
>How would the opposite not be true? "an appeal to the modern". Just because something like palm oil is new, must it be better?
What gave you the indication I was appealing to modernity? Being against naturalistic fallacy or the "good old days" doesn't mean I'm arguing "well it's new so it must be better!". I'm simply saying that we shouldn't give either side preference just because it's new or old.
>Consider that for years the "new" advice was to recommend aspirin to prevent heart attacks. [https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000678] If you ignored this advice some smarmy pill pusher would say you're appealing to nature. What about non-addictive…
Read the full comment
painkillers like oxycotton.
This seems like a massive strawman/misrepresentation. People weren't taking/recommending asprin because it was new, they were taking it because it's what the clinical evidence was suggesting. Some reasonable objections might be that the studies were poorly done, or wasn't replicable, but "it's not natural" isn't one of them. Just because "it wasn't natural" produced the right result, doesn't really mean we should endorse it, or continue using it. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justification_(epistemology)
>Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence" [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13835...].
>Mouse experiments showed weight gain and memory loss/alzheimers [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3]
Early studies showed that aspirin was beneficial for preventing heart attacks. You seemed to suggest that was bad. However, trusting one study saying that glyphosate causes cancer is okay? The wikipedia article for glyposate describes the overall evidence for glyposate causing cancer as "inconclusive". The IARC also said there was "limited evidence" for the type of cancer you described. If you want to make the case that appeal to nature is good, you really should have used something less contentious.
>Then the oil is bleached for a more palatable color.
Well is that bad? If they're literally dumping household bleach into the oil, I might be a little worried. Then again, they also put bleach (chlorine) into tap water, so should we be worried about that too?
> It refined like other industrials oils and often interchangeable for machining uses.
We also put nuclear plant coolant (dihydrogen monoxide) into our foods. Should we be worried about that as well?
>Seed oil advocates themselves appeal to "the good ol days", as many peoples have allegedly used rape seed oil over history.
Right, and that's bad regardless of which side it's on.
How would the opposite not be true? "an appeal to the modern". Just because something like palm oil is new, must it be better?
Consider that for years the "new" advice was to recommend aspirin to prevent heart attacks. [https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000678]
If you ignored this advice some smarmy pill pusher would say you're appealing to nature. What about non-addictive painkillers like oxycotton.
From wikipedia: "A genetically engineered rapeseed that is tolerant to the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate)".
"Exposure to glyphosate-based herbicides and risk for non-Hodgkin lymphoma: A meta-analysis and supporting evidence"…
Read the full comment
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S13835...].
So from the beginning the product is tainted.
Then the oil is bleached for a more palatable color. It refined like other industrials oils and often interchangeable for machining uses.
Mouse experiments showed weight gain and memory loss/alzheimers [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3]
While mice are not humans, American obesity has grown since the use of seed oils has grown.
Seed oil advocates themselves appeal to "the good ol days", as many peoples have allegedly used rape seed oil over history.
You made a couple of invalid claims here:
1) Canola oil is one of the healthier oils.
2) Monounsaturated fats help fight heart disease.
3) Naturally occurring trans fat is the same as industrial trans fat
4) Red meat has health risks
EDIT, included sources, with comments:
[1] Canola oil may have dramatic negative effect on weight gain and brain health: "Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease" https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3?error=dat...
[2] No clear benefits of MUFA-rich diets: "Monounsaturated Fatty Acids and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Synopsis of the…
Read the full comment
Evidence Available from Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3546618/
[3] High trans fat intake associated with lower sudden cardiac death: "Natural trans fat, dairy fat, partially hydrogenated oils, and cardiometabolic health: the Ludwigshafen Risk and Cardiovascular Health Study" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4816962/
[4] Claims on red meat risks that are limited to epidemiological studies (surveys) that are unreliable, do not factor for confounding variables, and do not conclusively prove anything. Keto diet, for example, has shown to lower cardiovascular risk factors:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5452247/
Since I'm really not that careful during non-diet days (some foods such as home-made chicken pot pies or pizzas etc.) can result in "significant" gains (2-3%) and other items my gf sometimes brings over (potato chips; ice cream; ...). Short answer: that week-to-week swing ranges ~4.5% of overall body weight. I try to limit (within reason) processed synthetic fake foods like margarine, Canola (lifeless, NaOH/heat-treated, hexane-extracted, bleached, deoderized "food") in favor of known-sourced, i.e. non-fake EVOO (look for the oleocanthal-induced burn at the back of the throat: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110118180514.ht...), butter, etc. I make my own…
Read the full comment
bread, yogurt -- again for control of what goes into them. But overall, not obsessed with any of that. I like to keep it simple; those preparations take minutes not hours ... :-p
* [How It's Made - Canola Oil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omjWmLG0EAs)
Detrimental health effects:
* [Canola oil linked to worsened memory and learning ability in Alzheimer's](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171207141624.h...)
* [Effect of canola oil consumption on memory, synapse and neuropathology in the triple transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-17373-3)
Edit: thank you for the plotting comments (I heart these: I love all things tech, programmatic, bio*); I just wanted a quick way to see my overall progress over time. I enter my morning weight (digital scale) daily, and occasionally plot it (Ctrl-Alt-T shortcut to terminal; "gp" bashrc alias to run that plot command, "qq" to quit the terminal). ;-)
Artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have been developing and refining large language models (LLMs) that exhibit remarkable capabilities across a variety of domains and tasks, challenging our understanding of learning and cognition.
The largely dominant meritocratic paradigm of highly competitive Western cultures is rooted on the belief that success is due mainly, if not exclusively, to personal qualities such as talent, intelligence, skills, efforts or risk taking.
In honor of Alan Turing's hundredth birthday, I unwisely set out some thoughts about one of Turing's obsessions throughout his life, the question of physics and free will.