If you have type 2 diabetes and are fighting a battle with obesity, there may be good news on the horizon. Researchers have recently discovered that adding two oils to the diet may help to reduce obesity in diabetics. Reducing obesity and body fat in the diabetic population is particularly important since carrying excess weight not only increases the risk of heart disease, but also makes blood sugars more difficult to control which can elevate the risk of diabetes-related complications.
Obesity in Diabetics: A Study 
According to a new study which will be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition this month, supplementing with two types of oils, safflower oil and conjugated linoleic acid may help to reduce obesity in diabetics and make blood sugars easier to control.
This research was carried out on thirty-five obese, postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes. The women were supplemented with four weeks of safflower oil followed by four weeks of conjugated linoleic acid. A month was allowed between supplements to wash out the residual effects of the first supplement. The amount of each oil given to the women was about 1 2/3 teaspoons. No other alterations were made to their diet and physical activity levels weren’t changed during the study.
Can These Oils Reduce Obesity in Diabetics?
The results were encouraging. The study showed that supplementation with CLA was associated with significant drops in body fat of about 3.2 percent on average, and declines in weight of around 3 pounds. Supplementation with safflower oil didn’t affect body fat levels, but reduced the amount of body fat carried in the trunk area by an average of about 3 pounds, while increasing lean body mass. Blood sugar levels also dropped with safflower oil supplementation.
Although these effects may not sound dramatic, they were achieved without changes in diet and physical activity levels. When combined with exercise and a healthy eating plan, the results could have been even more significant. CLA is a supplement frequently used by body builders to help reduce body fat and build lean mass, but studies looking at its effectiveness for fat loss have been inconsistent with some showing modest benefits and others showing no effect at all. It’s possible that in this population, CLA may have more benefits than in the general population.
Should These Oils Be Used to Reduce Obesity in Diabetics?
While supplementing with safflower oil or CLA will unlikely become standard therapy to reduce obesity in diabetics in the near future, it does bear further study. CLA and safflower oil are polyunsaturated fatty acids that may have other health benefits; but experts aren’t sure about the long-term safety of using CLA in supplemental form. Although CLA is found in foods such as beef and dairy products, large amounts of these foods would probably need to be consumed to get the benefits seen in this study. One option would be to use safflower oil in place of other oils for preparing recipes, although it’s unclear whether these low levels of safflower oil would still help to reduce obesity in diabetics. Hopefully, these issues will be clarified by future research.
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