What is an omega-3 fatty acid?
What is an omega-3 fatty acid?
Omega−3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids found in foods such as salmon. They're thought to help reduce circulatory problems, blood pressure and the risk of coronary heart disease.
The American Heart Association recommends eating fatty fish at least twice a week for just this reason, although there are counter-concerns that high fish consumption will result in toxic levels of mercury.
Some nutritionists also recommend eating tofu and other soybean products, as well as canola oil, walnuts and flaxseed, which contain alpha-linolenic acid, which can be transformed into omega-3 fatty acid in the body.
The word "canola" is a derivative of the phrase "Canadian oil, low acid."
Let's break that down a little further. Canola oil was first developed in Canada (in the 1970s), so that takes care of the "cano-" part of the word.
What about the "-la" or "low acid" part? Canola oil is made from varieties of rapeseed that contain very little amounts of something called erucic acid. Rapeseed naturally contains high levels of erucic acid, which has been suspected of being toxic to some animals in high levels.
People have been cooking with rapeseed oil for centuries. However, given the suspicions about its cumulative negative health effects, breeders began developing rapeseed that contained only small traces of erucic acid. And that's how "cano-" got its "-la".
