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BACKGROUND	The Canola Oil Multicenter Intervention Trial ( COMIT ) was a randomized controlled crossover study designed to evaluate the effects of five diets that provided different oils and/or oil blends on cardiovascular disease ( CVD ) risk factors in individuals with abdominal obesity .
BACKGROUND	The present objective is to report preliminary findings on plasma fatty acid profiles in volunteers with abdominal obesity , following the consumption of diets enriched with n-3 , n-6 and n-9 fatty acids .
METHODS	COMIT was conducted at three clinical sites , Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada , Qubec City , Qubec , Canada and University Park , Pennsylvania , United States .
METHODS	Inclusion criteria were at least one of the followings : waist circumference ( 90 cm for males and 84 cm for females ) , and at least one other criterion : triglycerides 1.7 mmol/L , high density lipoprotein cholesterol < 1 mmol/L ( males ) or < 1.3 mmol/L ( females ) , blood pressure 130 mmHg ( systolic ) and/or 85 mmHg ( diastolic ) , and glucose 5.5 mmol/L .
METHODS	Weight-maintaining diets that included shakes with one of the dietary oil blends were provided during each of the five 30-day dietary phases .
METHODS	Dietary phases were separated by four-week washout periods .
METHODS	Treatment oils were canola oil , high oleic canola oil , high oleic canola oil enriched with docosahexaenoic acid ( DHA ) , flax oil and safflower oil blend , and corn oil and safflower oil blend .
METHODS	A per protocol approach with a mixed model analysis was decided to be appropriate for data analysis .
RESULTS	One hundred and seventy volunteers were randomized and 130 completed the study with a dropout rate of 23.5 % .
RESULTS	The mean plasma total DHA concentrations , which were analyzed among all participants as a measure of adherence , increased by more than 100 % in the DHA-enriched phase , compared to other phases , demonstrating excellent dietary adherence .
CONCLUSIONS	Recruitment and retention strategies were effective in achieving a sufficient number of participants who completed the study protocol to enable sufficient statistical power to resolve small differences in outcome measures .
CONCLUSIONS	It is expected that the study will generate important data thereby enhancing our understanding of the effects of n-3 , n-6 , and n-9 fatty acid-containing oils on CVD risks .
BACKGROUND	ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01351012 .

