Health Benefits of Vegetable Oil for Obese Women Vary Based on Fatty Acid Composition

by | Jun 3, 2019 | 2018, Fats and Oils - General, Obesity, Weight Control, Women's Health

Written by Angeline A. De Leon, Staff Writer. Eight weeks of daily supplementation with different oils found that coconut oil had a greater effect on glycemic control, weight loss, percent body fat, and reduction in waist circumference.

weight control - health hazardsBased on World Health Organization reports, it is estimated that close to 700 million people worldwide will qualify as obese within the next ten years 1. Strategies for weight management have included diet therapy, physical activity, and surgical treatments, none of which, unfortunately, demonstrate reliable and long-term efficacy in obese individuals 2. Research in nutrition science has moved towards identifying specific components of the diet which may differentially influence weight gain. For example, fatty acids (FA’s) contained in vegetable oils are linked with positive health effects 3, and the consumption of specific types of FA’s, including monosaturated FA’s and polyunsaturated FA’s, may have the potential for anti-obesity benefits 4. Medium-chain FA’s (found in coconut oil), in particular, have shown favorable effects on glycemic profile 5. However, there is a current lack of understanding regarding the specific physiological effects associated with these particular FA’s as potential therapeutic agents for obesity management. To this end, a recent study published in Nutrients (2018) 6 compared the impact of coconut oil, safflower oil (rich in linoleic acid FA, 7, and chia oil (rich in alpha-linolenic acid, 8 on anthropometric measures and other cardiometabolic indices in obese women.

A total of 75 obese women (mean age = 34.07 years) with a body mass index (BMI) of 30-39.9 kg/m2 and a waist circumference (WC) greater than 88 cm were enrolled in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which they were BMI-matched and randomly assigned to ingest 6 g of coconut oil, safflower oil, chia oil, or a placebo soybean oil in capsule form daily for 8 weeks. Throughout treatment, subjects followed a hypocaloric diet and were instructed to perform regular physical activity on a weekly basis. At baseline and post-intervention, anthropometric measures (height, weight, WC, BMI, body fat percentage, lean mass percentage) were obtained and fasting blood samples collected for analysis of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides (TG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c, measure of average blood glucose level), and mean estimated glycemia (MEG).

In comparison to both the chia oil and placebo groups, analyses revealed that the coconut oil group had greater weight loss from baseline to the end of treatment (∆% = -8.54 +/- 2.38, p < 0.001). Relative to both chia oil and placebo, coconut oil was also associated with greater BMI reduction (absolute variation, ∆abs = -2.86 +/- 0.79) and greater body fat percentage loss (∆abs = -2.78 +/- 0.46) (p < 0.001 for both). In comparison to all three groups, coconut oil produced greater reduction in WC (∆abs = -6.61 +/- 0.85) and waist-to-height ratio (∆abs = -0.041 +/- 0.006) (p < 0.001 for both). Safflower oil showed similar variation as coconut oil on all anthropometric parameters, but was superior to placebo. Relative to all three groups, coconut oil was associated with greater reduction in HbA1c (∆abs = -0.86 +/- 0.28) and MEG (∆abs = -24.71 +/- 8.13) (p < 0.001 for both). In comparison to all three groups, safflower oil was found to produce greater reduction in TC (∆abs = -45.36 +/- 8.86), LDL-C (∆abs = -42.53 +/- 22.65), and TG (∆abs = -49.74 +/- 26.36), and a greater increase in HDL-C (∆abs = 3.73 +/- 1.24) (p < 0.05 for all).

Results suggest that the specific health benefits of vegetable oil may depend on fatty acid composition. In the present study, coconut oil was more effective in improving glycemic profile and anthropometric measures associated with abdominal adiposity, while chia oil proved more beneficial for lipid parameters. Researchers conclude that supplementation with different types of vegetable oil may alter unique components of the obesity disease model. It is important to note that the current trial is limited by a relatively short treatment duration and that future trials are needed to parse out the potential effects of dietary intervention and physical activity included in the trial from the independent clinical effects of vegetable oil supplementation.

Source: Oliveira-de-Lira L, Santos EMC, de Souza RF, et al. Supplementation-dependent effects of vegetable oils with varying fatty acid compositions on anthropometric and biochemical parameters in obese women. Nutrients. 2018; 10: 932. DOI: 10.3390/nu10070932.

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Posted June 3, 2019.

Angeline A. De Leon, MA, graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2010, completing a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a concentration in neuroscience. She received her master’s degree from The Ohio State University in 2013, where she studied clinical neuroscience within an integrative health program. Her specialized area of research involves the complementary use of neuroimaging and neuropsychology-based methodologies to examine how lifestyle factors, such as physical activity and meditation, can influence brain plasticity and enhance overall connectivity.

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