Dietary modeling shows that the substitution of canola oil for fats commonly used in the United States would increase compliance with dietary recommendations for fatty acids.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of substituting canola oil for selected vegetable oils and canola oil-based margarine for other spreads on energy, fatty acid, and cholesterol intakes among US adults.
DESIGN: Twenty-four-hour food recall data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to calculate the effect of substituting canola oil for dietary corn, cottonseed, safflower, soybean, and vegetable oils described as "not further specified" and of canola oil-based margarine for other spreads at 25%, 50%, and 100% replacement levels.
SUBJECTS: Adult participants aged>or=20 years (n=8,983) of the 1999-2002 NHANES. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Sample-weighted mean daily intake values and the percentage of subjects meeting dietary recommendations were estimated at the various replacement levels. Standard errors of the means and percentages were estimated by the linearization method of SUDAAN.
RESULTS: Significant (P<0.05) changes compared to estimated actual intakes included: saturated fatty acid intake decreased by 4.7% and 9.4% with 50% and 100% substitution, respectively. Complete substitution increased monounsaturated fatty acid and alpha-linolenic acid intakes by 27.6% and 73.0%, respectively, and decreased n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid and linoleic acid intakes by 32.4% and 44.9%, respectively. The ratio of n-6 to n-3 fatty acids decreased from 9.8:1 to 3.1:1 with 100% replacement. Energy, total fat, and cholesterol intakes did not change.
CONCLUSIONS: Substitution of canola oil and canola oil-based margarine for most other vegetable oils and spreads increases compliance with dietary recommendations for saturated fatty acid, monounsaturated fatty acid, and alpha-linolenic acid, but not for linoleic acid, among US adults.