25 Jul Soybean Oil May Not Be As Healthy As Previously Thought
MedicalResearch.com Interview with;
Poonamjot Deol, Ph.D.
Asst. Project Scientist,
University of California, Riverside,
Department of Cell Biology & Neuroscience
Riverside, CA
MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Deol: The consumption of soybean oil in the United States has increased more than 1000% in the last four decades (Blasbalg et al, 2011) due to a number of factors, including results from studies in the 1960s that found a positive correlation between saturated fatty acids and the risk of cardiovascular disease. In the United States soybean oil now accounts for 60 percent of edible oil consumed; this increase in the consumption of soybean oil parallels the increase in obesity rates in the country. Furthermore, there has also been an increase in the global consumption of soybean oil with approximately 40 million tons of soybean oil being produced worldwide in 2007, which is about one half of all the edible vegetable oil and one-third of all fats and seed oils produced. During the same time period, fructose consumption in the U.S. has also increased significantly from about 37 grams per day in 1977 to about 49 grams per day in 2004. While there has been an extensive scrutiny of the role that fructose and saturated fats may play in the development of metabolic syndrome, there is a relative lack of studies investigating the role that soybean oil may play in causing obesity.
We conducted this study to understand the role of saturated versus unsaturated fat, as well as fructose in the development of obesity and its associated co-morbidities diabetes, insulin resistance (IR) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We found that mice fed a diet moderately high in fat from soybean oil (unsaturated fat) showed statistically significant increases in weight gain, adiposity, diabetes, IR and very severe NAFLD compared to mice on a diet consisting primarily of coconut oil (saturated fat). The high fructose diet did not cause as much obesity or diabetes as the high soybean oil diet but it did cause a very fatty liver and rectal prolapse (a symptom of inflammatory bowel disease).
The main finding from this study is that in mice a diet high in soybean oil is more detrimental to metabolic health than a diet high in fructose or coconut oil.
MedicalResearch: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Deol: Our results suggest that unsaturated fats particularly those from soybean oil may not be as healthy as was previously thought. Even though others have shown beneficial cardiovascular effects of soybean oil, clinicians should consider the potential harmful metabolic effects of soybean oil, that our study has found, when suggesting dietary recommendations to patients.
It should be noted, however, that this study was conducted in mice and we don’t have any human data as of yet. That being said, the amount of fat and fructose used in the study is similar to what an average American consumes.
MedicalResearch: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Deol: These findings should be validated in humans and the obesogenic components of soybean oil should be identified.
Citation:
PLOS ONE Published: July 22, 2015
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132672
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Poonamjot Deol, Ph.D. (2015). Soybean Oil May Not Be As Healthy As Previously ThoughtÂ
Last Updated on July 27, 2015 by Marie Benz MD FAAD