Could Climate Change be Making Our Food Less Nutritious?
Canola oil may no longer be a healthy as it once was
Crop scientists have long suspected that changes in the global climate will impact the nutritional composition of the foods we eat and not always for the better. A recent report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition lends support to these fears. Using fatty acid composition data from 2010 to 2022, researchers from the USDA discovered that the levels of alpha-linolenic acid, a plant-based omega-3 fatty acid, in Canadian-grown canola oil has decreased resulting in a shift in fatty acid composition. This is concerning when you consider that alpha-linolenic acid is consider a beneficial fat for health and that canola can be a significant contributor of it to our diets. The investigators were able to attribute this drop in levels to higher daytime temperatures where the canola was being grown.
References
https://ajcn.nutrition.org/article/S0002-9165(24)01416-3/abstract
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD
Matthew Kadey, MS, RD, is a James Beard Award–winning food journalist, dietitian and author of the cookbook Rocket Fuel: Power-Packed Food for Sport + Adventure (VeloPress 2016). He has written for dozens of magazines, including Runner’s World, Men’s Health, Shape, Men’s Fitness and Muscle and Fitness.
