
Canola oil should be the choice of oil for people with type 2 diabetes, a new study has suggested.
Dr. David Jenkins, head of the hospital's Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre, compared people with Type 2 diabetes who ate either a low glycemic index diet that included bread made with canola oil, or a whole wheat diet known to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
His study found that those on the canola bread diet experienced both a reduction in blood glucose levels and a significant reduction in LDL, or "bad," cholesterol.
Dr. Jenkins, who is a professor of both nutritional sciences and medicine at the University of Toronto, said the reduction in LDL cholesterol observed in his study of 141 people could translate into a 7 percent reduction in cardiovascular events.
He said the benefit could also be translated into an additional 20mg dose of one of the cholesterol-reducing drugs known as statins-a doubling of a standard dose.
The word canola is a contraction of Canada and ola, meaning oil. It was developed from rapeseed at the University of Manitoba in the 1970s. Canola oil contains only 7 percent saturated fat, less than half that of olive oil, widely touted for its health benefits.
The study is published in the journal Diabetes Care.
Source: ANI