According to a new study including canola oil in your diet could help to trim that spare tire in as little as four weeks.

Sourced from the seeds of the canola plant, it has less than half the saturated fat of olive oil and contains elements that are known to specifically target stubborn abdominal fat, but how?

Canola oil is high in monounsaturated fatty acids and it’s these which have been shown to have beneficial effects on body composition, particularly in people with obesity.

“Visceral, or abdominal, fat increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, and is also associated with increased risk for conditions such as metabolic syndrome and diabetes,” said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State. “Monounsaturated fats in canola oil decrease this fat that has adverse health effects.”

(Rex Features (Rex Features)

In a study that tested the effect of five different vegetable oil blends - conventional canola, high-oleic acid canola, high-oleic acid canola with DHA (a type of omega-3 fatty acid), corn/safflower and flax/safflower – participants with abdominal obesity were asked to consume two oil-infused smoothies a day.

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After just one month of adhering to these diets, Kris-Etherton and colleagues found that participants who consumed conventional canola oil or high-oleic acid canola oil had .11 kilograms, or a quarter pound, less belly fat than when they started.

They also discovered that the weight lost from the mid-section did not redistribute elsewhere in the body.

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“As a general rule, you can't target weight loss to specific body regions,” said Kris-Etherton. “But monounsaturated fatty acids seem to specifically target abdominal fat.”