A new research shows that canola oil can be beneficial to type 2 diabetes patients. They found that canola oil effectively reduces risk of developing cardiovascular diseases if taken as a part of a low-glycemic diet.

Researchers at the St Michael's Hospital conducted the study on 141 participants. The team led by Dr. David Jenkins, head of the hospital's Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Center, looked into the effects of eating bread made with canola oil or whole wheat bread. They found that canola oil consumption was associated with reduced cholesterol levels.

The team explained that the lower levels were tied to a 7 percent reduced risk of cardiovascular events, which was equivalent to the effects of an extra 20mg dose of the commonly prescribed cholesterol-reducing drugs called statins.

According to the study, the canola bread diet had a major effect on people with the highest blood glucose levels. Dr. Jenkins said that participants on the whole wheat bread diet, however, had better blood flow after 12 weeks when compared to the blood flow of the people who ate the canola bread diet. Blood flow was measured by using the EndoPat test.

"A canola oil-enriched low-GL diet improved glycemic control in type 2 diabetes, particularly in participants with raised SBP [systolic blood pressure], whereas whole grains improved vascular reactivity," the researchers wrote in a press release.

Researchers said that the study results again show the importance of healthy eating in maintaining a chronic health condition.

The study, 'Effect of Lowering the Glycemic Load With Canola Oil on Glycemic Control and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Randomized Controlled Trial,' was published in the journal, Diabetes Care.