Possible Anti-Diabetic and Anti-Hyperlipidemic Efficacy of Blended Rice Bran Oil with Sesame Oil in Comparison with Soybean Oil: A Clinical Investigation in Pre-Diabetic and Diabetic Individuals

Objective: Cooking oil is an important ingredient of the diet and type of cooking oil used can affect the incidence and progression of metabolic disorders. It is established that mono and polyunsaturated fatty acids lowers the risk of diabetes or helps in better management of diabetes. The blend of rice bran oil and sesame oil contains PUFA and MUFA in nearly recommended levels. The present study was planned to evaluate and validate effect of blend of Rice BranOil and Sesame Oil (RBSO) in subjects with type II diabetes. Research design and methods: Fifty one diabetic patients were randomized to receive either Fortune vivo blended rice-bran oil (RBSO; n=26) or the comparator soybean oil (n=25). RBSO was given to 29 non-diabetic, 28 pre-diabetic controls. The amount of cooking oils was given for the entire family as per the recommended daily dietary requirement for 12 weeks. Following 12 weeks of study and a subsequent wash-out period of 21 days, 12 patients were randomly selected from each arm of the 2 diabetic patient groups and were crossed over to receive the other study oil and evaluated every 4 weeks for another 12 weeks in a similar manner as before. Results: There was reduction in FBS and PPBS across all RBSO groups, but was significant only in the diabetic patients (p=0.010). There was no significant change in FBS or PPBS levels observed in soybean oil treated group. RBSO treated diabetic group showed 9.5% reduction of HbA1c while it was elevated in the soybean oil group. Both RBSO and soybean oil were well tolerated by all subjects and no adverse event was noted in any study group. Conclusion: In the present study, RBSO appeared to improve sugar metabolism as evidenced by reduction in FBS, PPBS and HbA1c in type-2 diabetic patients.