This scientist won an award for helping create canola oil. RFK Jr. claims it’s poison

Michael Eskin is speaking out against the proposed U.S. health czar’s smear campaign about the heart-healthy seed oil.
Prof. Michael Eskin
Michael Eskin, a Winnipeg biochemist and food sciences professor from the University of Manitoba, won the Order of Canada and, most recently, was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame for his research into canola oil as a heart-safe Canadian export. (University of Manitoba photo)

A U.S. Senate committee is voting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 whether to recommend Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should go forward as President Donald Trump’s new secretary of health. If he makes it through, RFK Jr. would have a wide-reaching impact on a particular Canadian export: canola oil. Long considered a loud voice in the anti-vaccine movement , and pushing other conspiracy theories, RFK Jr. now on a crusade to ban the signature Canadian oil, along with other seed oils. He claims they are toxic, cause obesity and poison Americans. Notably, he is pushing McDonald’s to fry their foods in beef tallow instead.

All this makes professor Michael Eskin shake his head. Eskin is an internationally renowned food scientist at the University of Manitoba who helped develop Canada’s $35-billion canola industry, including canola oil, as a heart-healthy part of our diet. Eskin’s nearly 60 years of research—spanning 19 books and 150 scientific papers—have earned him an Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba, and countless professional awards, including, most recently, induction into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame.

Eskin is a fan of some of RFK Jr.’s other pet peeves: he is similarly critical of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s handling of COVID, for example, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the CDC But on the canola oil file, the professor thinks the future health czar is giving out the wrong diagnosis.

On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, Eskin joins host Ellin Bessner to explain the benefits of canola oil, share its origin story, and discuss what’s at stake should Canada slap tariffs on exports of canola to the U.S.

What we talked about:

  • Read more on why the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame inducted Michael Eskin for his decades of research on canola oil as a heart-healthy staple.
  • Watch Michael Eskin’s rap video on lipids, on YouTube.
  • Read about Eskin winning the Order of Canada, in 2016.

Credits

  • Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
  • Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
  • Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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Transcript: Note: Transcripts are AI-generated and may contains typos.

Ellin Bessner: And Professor Eskin joins me now from Winnipeg. Welcome to The CJN Daily. It’s an honour to have you.

Michael Eskin: My pleasure. 

EB: Well, we’re speaking just as the new president in the United States, Donald Trump, has been nominating his various Secretaries. And we know that the issue that you spent your life working on, which is seed oils, has become front and centre in the wellness industry. With Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attacking the health benefits of canola oil and other seed oils. He said they were toxic, and that they were poisoning Americans. What is that whole new controversy? 

ME: I’m wondering, is he concerned about the agronomics of it or is he concerned with the components? Because certainly on canola and a lot of these other edible oils, there’s been so much research done, human research and health research that show the benefit of it, so I’m not sure what aspect his concern is. You know, at his hearing today, I noticed he said he’s not going to go after the Big Mac. Okay. But he will inform people what’s in it. 

EB: He said that McDonald’s should start using beef tallow instead of seed oil to fry their food. He said that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic.

ME: It’s interesting because the Americans have a food guide in the shape of a pyramid. 

They got so paranoid about fats, they almost eliminated it. And during that period of time, they had never had such obesity. And the nutritionists realized they made a terrible mistake. What was a terrible mistake? Fats ain’t bad. 

And what happened was everyone was gorging on refined sugar. I mean, the refined sugar is the corn sugar, which is what he’s against, and I agree with him absolutely. From corn they make this refined product that is used in everything. 

EB: Yeah, the high fructose corn syrup. 

ME: And I know there are pediatricians, there’s one particular couple of them that are very famous now, who got so tired of seeing their patients obese and with diabetes that one of them now has dedicated his life, he goes around and there’s no question about it, sugar is an inflammatory. However, I must admit I reviewed a paper recently on all the alternatives to sugar, such as stevia, et cetera, and they’re all neurotoxins. So my recommendation was if you have to have sugar, have it very occasionally and very little. 

EB: Going back to the topic of the seed oils though, you started working on canola when you moved to Winnipeg, Tell us a bit about how your work changed the smell and the toxicity and the taste and the shelf life of this oil, which has now been a $35 billion a year industry for Canada. 

ME: Well, canola or rapeseed, the origin of canola is not indigenous to Canada. In the 30s, a Polish farmer had a friend of his who came to Saskatchewan, and sent him some seeds. This farmer  grew them and they grew extremely well. And what happened was, in the Second World War, there was a shortage of marine oils for the engines. And rapeseed oil was a wonderful lubricant for the marine engines. And so they suddenly had this growing program in Canada to grow rapeseed, from Poland, and they also imported another variety from Argentina. They produced the oil for the Navy and also for the commercial ships. And once, thankfully, the war came to a close–and with the development of the diesel engine–they didn’t need the lubricant anymore. 

There was actually a Jewish fellow in Agriculture Canada, I forgot his name, who said, ‘Well, maybe there’s something in this. Maybe it has some edible properties?’ But it smelt bad and it looked bad. Plus also, the oil had a composition of a fatty acid known as erucic acid, which is a C-22-1 [which is unhealthy for cholesterol.) It varied from 40 to 70% of all the fatty acids in rapeseed. And so the whole program was started in the 1950s. And when I came in 1968 to Winnipeg, Canada, I had a wonderful colleague, the late Marion Vasey-Ganzer, who was a sensory expert. There were two other colleagues who were nutritionists. And so there were the four of us. I’m actually the last surviving member of that group. And so we worked with the breeders in terms of testing the oil, looking at the composition. They were trying to reduce the erucic acid. When I came in ’68, there were really two breeders. Downey in Saskatoon and Stephenson at the University of Manitoba. They didn’t compete, they collaborated.

And so they were producing an oil with a markedly different composition. And in fact, the composition was so good, it was very low in saturates, very high in monounsaturated fat, it had about 60 % oleic acid, 20 something percent linoleic and about 8 to 12 % linoleic Omega-3. Very few plant oils at that time had Omega-3.  So we did the composition, we did the testing of the stability, we did frying and performance, we did the whole gambit. 

In the meantime, my other colleagues were feeding it to students and analyzing feces and urine. We always knew on a Monday morning when we came into the lab, we have this very powerful odor in the hallway. So we knew what they were up to. And so they found it extremely beneficial in terms of cholesterol. 

And this was days when there was a gentleman called Keyes in the States who dominated  the area of fats. He was a very questionable character. So any papers that didn’t agree with his theory, they couldn’t get published. And I don’t know whether you remember, there used to be a PS ratio in the oil. It had to have a certain level of polyunsaturates to saturates. So your cholesterol didn’t go up. Well, that totally ignored monounsaturates, which have been shown to be very effective in lowering cholesterol. So here you had an oil that certainly was high in monounsaturates. It was a good source of linoleic and an excellent source of linoleic. So it was the perfect, heart healthy oil. And the studies showed it.

So I’m not sure what the concerns that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has on that because there’s so many studies that have been done to establish the efficacy and the health related properties of the oil. There is also some new breeding going on. There’s a shortage of Omega-3 in the diet. So now there’s niche oils where they are actually breeding in highly Omega-3 rich oils. And they’ve also developed almost zero saturated fat.

We were in the early part of it and we had no idea of the impact that our work had, but once it got FDA approval and it just shot up and things really moved very, very fast. 

EB: The theories of these food critics now are that when you fry [canola oil] it produces toxic problems for consumption. “Leading to inflammation and chronic illnesses for these Omega-6 fatty acids in seed oils. “

ME:  In Canada, they used to hydrogenate all oils, so they didn’t oxidize. Because when it comes to fats, the more double bonds you have, the greater is the rate of oxidation. You know, and rancidity is something I’ve studied all my life. And 30 years ago, medicine realized that all the diseases that we suffer from, are all related to oxidative stress. Whether it’s Alzheimer’s, whether it’s cancers, you name it, it’s all oxidative stress. Why is it oxidative stress? Because essentially we are biologically oxidizing machines and we have trillions of cells operating. So what happens is that in the metabolism, we produce free radicals and these free radicals could damage nucleic acid. They could damage protein.

And what happens is if they damage the nucleic acid, then the cell could become a cancer cell. A cancer cell becomes an independent unit, does not communicate with any others and just grows and grows and grows. it can metastasize and spread.

So that is the impact of oxidation. So the concern with frying [canola oil] was they wanted to have a stable oil. In Canada, they hydrogenated. So there’s no oxidation. However, there was this very serious flaw in that.

What happens is the hydrogen switches. That’s why it’s called trans. 

EB: Trans fat?! I am so excited to learn this. I never knew that. Thank you.

ME: And as a result, the trans double bonds behave like a saturated bond. The only problem is they’re not good for your health. And there was a professor, Fred Kummarow, at the University of Illinois, who petitioned the FDA about his research. And he told them, and this would have been in the 1950s or 60s. He said trans fatty acids are very bad. Hydrogenation is very bad. But the FDA ignored him. And at the age of 100,

He took the FDA to court and he won. It wasn’t that he was being vindictive, but he wanted to make a point that they knew about it and they did nothing. 

The Europeans have a different way. It’s called transesterification. And that’s why BECEL margarine does not have trans fat because it’s made that way. 

EB: That’s the only margarine we have in our house because a) it’s kosher and b it’s vegan. No dairy. 

ME: It took that many years, over 50 years until finally the FDA agreed. And so what happened was that they had to find an alternative way. They couldn’t hydrogenate. And so they developed what’s called a high oleic canola oil. And they increased the oleic from 6 % to over 80%. And this reduced the linoleic and the linolenic [fatty acids, which both contain Omega-3, an essential component for health.] Omega-3 actually is interesting. They’re both healthy. But Omega-3 is much more potent as an anti-cancer. Linoleic, which is Omega-6, is not. 

EB: This is where [RFK Jr. and critics are] targeting, is the Linoleic Omega-6. They’re saying that when it fries, it’s bad for you. So back to what the controversy is.

ME: Normally everything is fairly controlled in industrial frying. They fry it 180 degrees. Whereas if you’re pan frying [at home], you have no control. So you should never, ever use that oil again. Never. Because that oil is heated over 200 degrees. It’s a very flat surface and it  oxidizes. Now, whereas in the industry, they are very concerned about the oxidized products, which can be dangerous for your health, but they monitor that very carefully. They have to, they can’t use it. They will test the oil and they will check the oxidized products and they will remove the oil when it becomes[unsafe]. 

Europe actually had legislation about at what time the polar compounds get to a certain percent, the oil has to be [thrown out]. 

EB: The Europeans are a lot more ahead of the curve when it comes to health anyway for years. 

ME: And part of the problem has been, I’m sorry to say, the FDA. I do not have too much faith in WHO either, or [Dr. Anthony] Fauci’s group [Centres for Disease Control]. I’m sorry, they have not been responsible except for themselves.

EB: So that’s where the concern is, but there is tight control and everything is tested. You’re saying that you’re not sure why the product that is made in Canada is under controversy because the production and the handling has been proven to be safer than what’s been said now in the popular press, right? 

ME: Yeah. 

EB: So we should still use it.

ME: You get the regular [canola oil], right? You get the regular oil which really is a solution of triglycerides. You don’t get the [industrial version of]canola oil. The industry now uses high oleic. 

EB: Okay, so this is for the industry and not for ordinary consumers. Do you use canola oil in your life? Have you used it? 

ME: I’ve used it. I don’t do too much frying. relatively little frying. But I do use canola. We use a lot of olive oil as well.  We do use both. 

EB: Back to you were mentioning your collaborations with colleagues. I know you  have done lots of rap music. I’ve watched some of your videos. Have you decided you’re going to send some of these to RFK Jr. to talk to them about,because this is a big industry for Canada. It’s the second most exported crop. There’s a lot at stake here. 

ME: I think he’s going to have to be sort of fairly careful because it’s a very powerful industry. I think you’ll find that the American Oil Chemist Society, for example, will probably have all the industries coming out with a defense against  that. Tallow,  I can’t imagine frying in Tallow. That’s from a religious point of view.

EB: In terms of your work, what suggestions do you have for the canola industry to stand up for itself now? 

ME: I don’t have to tell them. There are enough pretty impressive people there that will deal with it. There’s no question that frying is quite a rigorous process. You know, I used to tease my students that if you’re caught by cannibals and you’re given the choice to be boiled or fried, go with boiling because maybe there’s a chance you’ll be saved. Once you go into the frying, they said that’s just 180 degrees versus 100. But…either way, I wouldn’t recommend either. So I think that’s something the industry is going to. I’m sure that if something does come up through the American Oil Chemistry Society, through the Canola Council, (used to be the Rapeseed Canola council), which is centered in Winnipeg. In Canada, you have 43,000 canola farmers and that generates about $30 billion. The average person, I don’t think,  eats fried food every day. It’s like you can argue the same with Coca Cola, it is the most acidic, like Pepsi Cola, you know, that it’s used for de-rusting the stomach or whatever. But there are people who are Cocaahoolics and that can be problematic. But if you have a normal diet and you just eat fried occasionally like having a donut occasionally, it’s not going to impact your health. The one thing that I think that does impact your health is milk, chocolate milk. Milk normally has 4 % lactose. That comes to about 120 grams of sugar in three liters. If you look at chocolate milk, next time you have a look, it has 10 to 11 % sugar. Why? Because they add 280 grams of sugar, a) to take away the bitterness of the chocolate and b} to give it a sweetness. And that’s bad. 

EB: Even if it’s lactose free? Because I can’t drink milk because I’m lactose intolerant. Many Jews are. So maybe that’s a protection for us. 

ME: OK. But it depends on the sugar content.

I have a bit of a problematic sweet tooth, but I don’t use sugar. I use milk. I like milk coffee. I like plain milk over Shabbat. I do use a little sugar. 

EB: I think everybody’s bought air fryers now over the last five years. So that could kind of help too, right? 

ME: Yes. Air fryers. Definitely.

EB: You’re teaching now this semester. What else are you working on now? 

ME: I just published my 18th and 19th book this year. This is Functional Foods and Chronic Disease.

EB: Congratulations. It’s a lovely cover. You wrote it with another colleague. 

ME: My colleague is Michel Alliano, who is really an outstanding individual from France. Just an amazing person. This is the second book we’ve done together. We have a third book that I’m doing that we’ve just signed for. And that one actually is Diet as a Complementary Treatment for Cancer and Therapy.

I’ve got experts to look at all the chronic diseases. For example, China has fatty liver disease. A quarter of a billion of their population have this. 

EB: Wow. Give us a preview. What is causing it? 

ME: Very heavy drinkers and the diet mixture, both,  It’s quite something. And the other book that I did was Vitamin D and health.

EB: Can we get these off the University of Manitoba website or Amazon or Indigo? 

ME: Probably Amazon. One of the things that I had real concerns with was when COVID came, and there was no debate around whether you either agreed with the establishment or not.

There were doctors who lost jobs. There was no debate at all. And people were making fortunes out of this. I have very mixed feelings. I’m not going to get into the COVID vaccine but one of the things they should have done, is the health authorities should have encouraged Vitamin D.

It’s very cheap, which was the problem. It was too cheap. That’s my cynical take. And people who had low Vitamin D levels, research has been shown in Israel and a lot, went into respiratory problems. If they were obese, and you have between 40 and 60 percent of adults who were obese. And talking about adolescent children, they were largely, I would say in the United States, they probably had the highest deaths from COVID. It’s a shame on the authorities. Canada is no less. And Ivermectin. In a paper now, it’s showing it to have very powerful anti-cancer properties. Everything the other side said.

They were put in Cherem, as they said. 

EB: I can see why you would have more sympathy for the views in the Trump administration because that’s what they promoted and still do.

ME:  I mean, I’ve been vaccinated, et cetera. I have taken COVID vaccines, but I will not take any. And unlike Robert F. Kennedy, I do not take the flu vaccine. 

EB: I do want to ask when you got your Order of Canada, they called you Nissan Akiva Michael Eskin. Is that how you go by, professor? 

ME: I go by Michael. But for those I put Nissan Akiva. Nissan was my grandfather who was actually the rabbi in Bobruisk in Russia. And, in the 1920s, he was planning to bring the family over to Ireland where we had a family, a very rabbinical family. And he went to Moscow to arrange papers. And he was maybe in his 30s, 36s, maybe something maybe. And you know, he married very young. He had maybe nine children.

He had nine children and he was pushed under a train in the Moscow station and was killed. My father was the oldest one, 19 years old. And the family sent him to England. He had a certificate for shechita and he was brought over and he got into Ireland initially through a letter from the chief rabbi of Ireland at that time was Rabbi Herzog who eventually became the Chief Rabbi of Israel, okay?

EB: So you could have been a Shochet, but you ended up being a scientist. 

ME: He might have liked me to be a cantor. I’ve done cantorial. The university loved the Pessach rap I did. They put it on YouTube and have about 20,000 hits on it.

You can get it on Spotify.

In my long career, I’ve served as associate dean of my faculty. And so when there was a hundredth celebration, the lieutenant governor at the time was Janice Filmon, and she’s a graduate and we worked closely together. So when I got the Order of Manitoba, she insisted I perform one of my items.

“I’m reviewing the situation and how every new nutritional fad is spread. 

By those nuts who love fitness and never ever seem to go to bed. 

You won’t see them at Claridge’s, they’re too busy chewing cabbages, 

Doing aerobics day and night. In outfits that are far too tight, 

They only drink raw carrot juice. And if you stray, you’re in a noose.

 I think I better think it out again. “

EB: I love that and I appreciate it. For our listeners who may be of a certain age, they might get where that comes from, the play.

EB: it’s from Oliver the musical. So Oliver Twist. 

I’m honored that you gave me that little ditty. I appreciate it. 

Lastly, rapeseed.  Did they change the name because it’s for the word rape? To make it more palatable. Is that true? 

ME: Well, they had to change the name and they were going to change it to Canberra, but a company already took that name. So Canada and Olay is an oil. So canola. So politically correct. 

EB: I always wondered. So now I know. I’ve learned so many things today in this interview. Thank you so much for being on The CJN Daily. 

ME: Thank you.

Author

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