Add safflower oil to your diet to lose weight and improve your health. This type of vegetable oil contains good fats and may even prevent cataracts. You can use safflower oil in salad dressings and other recipes that call for vegetable oil. Use safflower for frying or sautéing. It has the same smoking point as peanut oil and corn oil.
Reduce Body Fat
Safflower oil can help you lose weight, according to a study from Ohio State University and published in the June 17 issue of the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." In the study, 35 obese post-menopausal women with Type 2 diabetes consumed a daily supplement of safflower oil and followed their regular diet and exercise patterns for 16 weeks. The data show reduced fat in the subjects' trunk area and an increase in muscle tissue. Researchers associate the linoleic acid in safflower oil with these positive results.
Improve Health Measures
Take a daily dose of safflower oil to improve your levels of good cholesterol and other health measures, according to a secondary analysis of the same study from Ohio State University. After taking a dose of safflower oil --- about 1 ¾ tsp. per day -- for 16 weeks, the participants showed improvement in good cholesterol along with three additional health measures: blood sugar levels, insulin sensitivity and inflammation. These results show how adding healthy fats to your diet can improve your health.
Cataract Prevention
It might be possible to fight age-related cataracts with good fats, according to an analysis of data from the Nurses' Health Study by researchers at Tufts University and published in the April 2005 issue of the "Journal of Clinical Nutrition." Cataract caused by aging is the leading cause of blindness in the world. The data show that women who took vitamin E as a dietary supplement for 10 years or more had significantly less cataract development than other women.
Nutrition Information
The Nutritive Value of Foods -- a U.S. Department of Agriculture publication -- provides nutrition information on 1 tbsp. of safflower oil. It contains 120 calories and 4.64 mg of vitamin E. The fat content of 1 tbsp. of safflower oil is 14 g, which breaks down into 10.2 g of monounsaturated fat, 2 g of polyunsaturated fat and 0.8 g of saturated fat.
References
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Comparison of Dietary Conjugated Linoleic Acid vs. Safflower Oil on Body Composition in Obese Postmenopausal Women With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus; Leigh E. Norris, et al; June 2009
- Ohio State University; A Dose of Safflower Oil Each Day Might Help Keep Heart Disease at Bay; Emily Caldwell; March 2011
- United States Department of Agriculture; Nutritive Value of Foods; October 2002
- U.S. Department of Agriculture; USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: Oil, Safflower, Salad or Cooking, High Oleic
- "Science Daily"; Nutrition Scientists Take a Look at Cataract Prevention; August 2005
- Cooking For Engineers; Smoke Points of Various Fats; Michael Chu
