NOW CLOSED Take the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge to be in with a chance of winning supermarket vouchers worth up to £250

[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by RapeseedOilBenefits.com to find MNers to take part in a 2 week rapeseed oil challenge starting 22nd July.

Here's what RapeseedOilBenefits.com, a not-for-profit campaign that aims to inspire people to use this cooking oil, say about the challenge: "Did you know rapeseed oil, sometimes labelled vegetable oil, is one of the healthiest and most versatile cooking oils you can buy? It has 50% less saturated fat than olive oil and can be used cold in salad dressings through to frying at high temperatures. Many celeb chefs, nutritionists and foodies are championing rapeseed oil for its culinary and health properties. Give it a try and tell us what you think to be entered into a prize draw."

Here's what's involved:

• This is open to all UK MNers with at least one child aged between 2 and 16 living at home.

• The challenge will be from 22nd July to 5th August. During the challenge you'll need to post your feedback on a thread on MN. Please only sign up if you and your family are available to take part during this time.

• The challenge is to buy two bottles of rapeseed oil - one labelled 'vegetable oil' and the other labelled 'cold pressed' - and then to use these in place of your normal cooking oils for two weeks and tell us what you think. (If you already use rapeseed oil, feel free to take part in this challenge too.)

• If you have any questions about rapeseed oil, go to RapeseedOilBenefits.com to ask the nutritionist and check out their guide to rapeseed oil FAQs. Try their easy and tasty recipes while you're there.

• 100 MNers will be selected as 'officials'. If selected, you'll be sent a £10 voucher to contribute towards the cost of buying the oils. This voucher will be for one of two supermarkets - you can submit your preference of supermarkets when you sign up. All 'officials' who post their feedback on the MN thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 supermarket voucher of their choice.

• You can still take part if you don't get selected as an 'official'. All 'non-officials' who take part in the challenge and post their feedback on the MN thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 supermarket voucher of their choice.

If you'd like to take part as an 'official' in the RapeseedOilBenefits.com challenge, please sign up here.

We'll be in touch with the 100 'official' MNers selected to take part in the challenge by 16th July.

Thanks
MNHQ

Can someone please clarify for me is Rapeseed oil the same as Vegetable oil ? That seems to be what is suggeted here. For yrs we have cooked with vegetable oil then a nutritionist advised we switch to "Rapeseed oil", i've been using this for the last yr, its difficult to get in the shops and only ever get it in small bottles, but this thread has really confused me now.

To be honest though, if they are trying to promote this oil it might be better to rebrand it so it's not named after a violent disgusting crime. Murder bread anyone? Manslaughter milk? Domestic violence eggs?

If the USA is calling it canola oil, maybe we should too?

Or maybe something that doesn't sound like medical equipment (cannula)?

There's a lot of negative info on the web about rape/canola oil. Seems to be regarded as toxic by some.

A not-for-profit campaign run by a marketing board? I've heard it all now.

Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far!
The team at RapeseedOilBenefits.com have asked us to post the below which will help with any queries / confusion about what oil is what.

"Thanks for the enthusiasm so far! There's lots of questions - we've set up a FAQs (frequently asked questions) page for you - and if any of your questions have not been answered and you'd like them to be, please do use our Ask the nutritionist tool - we'd be glad to have a chat and try to help"

Gunznroses you're not thinking of Grapeseed oil are you? That comes in tiny bottles, and is hard to find. Rapeseed oil is pretty ubiquitous, though yes, I've heard it isn't great for allergies...

Rapeseed oil

This is a veeeery convoluted plot by that MRSA troll this time I have to say.

I am on holiday then, so can't sign up.

Have been using Rapeseed oil for a few months though anyway - it is more expensive than the cheapo vegetable oils - but as we don't use loads I am happy to pay the price.

Fuckwittery, my DD has allergies including to rapeseed oil. She has had allergies since she was a baby. Her allergy doctor basically to
D me she wouldnt be allergic to rapeseed oil, and was surprised that she does have this allergy.

We were in America recently and Canola allergy is actually vey common there. Canola oil is widely used, and is in lots of everyday foods. They have a high incidence of canola allergy, presumably for that reason.

Your suggestion that using something could build up an intolerance is actually potentially dangerous. For someone with an actual proper allergy to anything, the recommended advice is to avoid the allergen. And for those people, including my daughter, it is only when skin prick tests and blood tests show that the allergen reaction is reduced that the food is introduced, under controlled conditions in a hospital where temperature and blood pressure and other vitals are monitored during the introduction.

If you have mentioned this based on evidence you have read/researched, then I would be very grateful if you would point me in the direction of the papers or studies as I am happy to be told I am wrong n this asit would make my life alot easier.

I think mum what fuckwittery - and certainly what I was referring to in my pp ? is pollen allergies, ie hayfever. A lot of people are allergicr to rapeseed pollen and many people, including me, have found that eating rapeseed oil improves their hayfever/pollen sensitivities.

Of course if someone is allergic to the oil itself it should be avoided. I dont think anyone was suggesting otherwise though, just that eating the oil apparently helps with hayfever.

Done

Oh ok Wilson, I obviously misunderstood. Apologies. :)

And for clarifying that. I understand the honey reference now.

Done. Bet you two bottles of rapeseed oil I don't get picked though.

No worries Hope your dd is doing ok, allergies are very hard work!

'I've got a bottle from one of the main British producers of posh rapeseed oil. It's a glorious, shocking yellow but it smells rather dusty and cabbagey. The taste is simultaneously bland and tongue-coatingly unpleasant; it reminds me of rancid walnuts and second-hand bookshops. Dabbous is probably right to put this stuff in mayonnaise, where olive oil will often overpower things. But in a salad dressing it's so much cold wet grease, and I don't see the point of cooking with something so comparatively expensive'

I get rapeseed oil in my local supermarkets - Sainsbury's & Tesco's. I've tried a few different brands and by far and away my favourite is Hillfarm (black bottle with blue writing).

I'm on holiday for most of the trial but sounds interesting.

God I get so flipping confused about stuff like this...

Sorry but aren't we supposed to be lowering our intake of vegetable oils as they are high in omega 6 which competes with omega 3 for takeup??

I thought that was the whole point-as the amount of oily fish we eat has decreased and the amount of vegeatable oils has increased, we uptake the omega 6 rather than the omega 3 so we aren't getting protection from disease through omega 3??

I'm not a biochemist but I'm pretty sure just from a general interest in science reading that studies show that the ingestion of omega 6 is inveresly related to the concentration of omega 3 fatty acids in the body??

And i'm sure the people trying to upsell another vegetable oil into the human diet are very quick to point out that it is a source of omega 3, but not quite so quick to point out that it also has omega 6 which competes with it

A quick wiki :

"Canola oil: Contains around 11% ALA (alpha linoleic acid), which is an omega 3 precursor for EPA and DHA. The disadvantage of ALA is that it must compete with LA (linoleic acid) in the conversion to longer fatty acids such as EPA and DHA. ALA converts very poorly to EPA and extremely poorly to DHA because of this competition with the omega 6 LA. It has been estimated that less than 5% of ALA converts to EPA, and that less than 1% converts to DHA. The omega 6 to omega 3 ratio in canola oil is 1:2. However, keep in mind that the EPA is converted from ALA in a ratio of 1:20.

To get 1 gram of EPA, one needs 20 grams of ALA. So the omega 6 to EPA/DHA ratio of canola oil is more like 8:1.

The fish oil ratio of omega 6 to EPA/DHA is 56 times better"

Yeah but do you cook with fish oil? I mean, can you?