What type of oil is canola oil made out of?

The oil called Canola Oil in North America is a cooking oil produced by extraction from specially hybridized rapeseed plants. The name Canola comes from an acronym of "Canadian Oil, Low Acid". This name was partly derived from the location of development and growth of the new plants, now known as Canola plants, that were cross-bred from rapeseed plants with a goal to reduce the amount of erucic acid produced by the plant. Canola oil is also sometimes called LEAR, another acronym formed from "Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed". An effort was made to name the new oil without using rape in the new name, because of the negative connotations of that Word to English speaking consumers, although it comes from the latin Word rapum, which means turnip. Rapeseed plants, turnips, rutabega, mustard, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are all related species. Erucic Acid in large amounts can be toxic to humans. The original rapeseed oil, produced years ago and since ancient times, typically would have 30 to 60% erucic acid content. Laws have been implemented by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to limit the amount of erucic acid in Canola oil to 2%. Most Canola oil produced today is well below that level of acid, with ranges of 0.3 to 1.2%. Although some health concerns about Canola oil have been circulated on the internet, they are unfounded. These concerns probably stem from the fact that rapeseed oil had these high concentrations of potentially toxic erucic acid. Other natural compounds found in rapeseed oil are glucosinolates. These have a very bitter flavor, so a successful secondary goal of the cross breeding program was to reduce these compounds to improve the flavor of the new oils. Canola oil, produced since the 1970's, is one of the more healthy cooking oils with very low saturated fat content and very high proportions of the "good" monosaturated fats. Still, there are advisories that very young infants, who are still nursing, should not be given foods containing any erucic acid because they will not yet have developed sufficient levels of a specific enzyme needed to break down the erucic acids during digestion.