The researchers from University of California at Riverside have revealed that soybean oil causes more obesity, diabetes, than fructose and coconut oil.

The study was carried out in mice under the leadership of Assistant project scientist Poonamjot Deol. The mice on the soybean oil-enriched diet gained almost 25 percent more weight than the mice on the coconut oil diet and 9 percent more weight than those on the fructose-enriched diet. And the mice on the fructose-enriched diet gained 12 percent more weight than those on a coconut oil rich diet.

The scientists also analysed the changes in gene expression and metabolite levels in the livers of mice fed with those diets. They noticed that soybean oil significantly affects the expression of many genes that metabolize drugs and other foreign compounds that enter the body. Researchers also found that mice on the high coconut oil diet showed signs of increased weight gain, a fatty liver with signs of injury, larger fat deposits, diabetes and insulin resistance, all of which are associated with metabolic syndrome.

When compared with soybean oil, fructose had less severe metabolic effects although it did cause more negative effects in the kidney and a marked increase in prolapse.

The research findings are published in the journal PLOS One.

By Lizitha