Health Benefits Archives - Page 6 of 10

Study shows that a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent.

Posted on July 22, 2019July 22, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following article is excerpted from VPR.net (Vermont Public Radio), Allison Aubrey; posted September 30, 2013

The Mediterranean diet is a pattern of eating that lately has become a darling of medical researchers. It includes vegetables and grains, not so much meat and, of course, generous portions of olive oil.

Mary Flynn, an associate professor of medicine at Brown University, says the evidence that olive oil is good for your heart has never been more clear. “Olive oil is a very healthy food. I consider it more medicine than food.”

She points to a big study published earlier this year in the New England Journal of Medicine where researchers in Spain had men and women in their 50s, 60s and 70s who were at risk of heart disease follow one of three diets. Some ate a low-fat diet, another group ate a Mediterranean diet with nuts. And a third group ate a Mediterranean diet that included almost four tablespoons of extravirgin olive oil per day.

“So, they could compare the three diets: Was it nuts, was it olive oil or was the low-fat diet beneficial?” says Flynn. And what researchers found was that a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent. The nut group, which was consuming olive oil as well, did well, too.

“The fact is, there are a huge range of benefits of real extra-virgin olive oil,” notes Tom Mueller, who has spent the last six years investigating and writing about olive oil. He says olive oil is good for two reasons: It’s mostly unsaturated fat, and extra-virgin oil, which is the highestgrade and least-processed form of olive oil, contains a whole range of other beneficial plant compounds called polyphenols.

But here’s the catch: Unfortunately, it turns out that more than half of the extra-virgin olive oil imported into the U.S. has been shown to be substandard. “The fact is, it’s quite often just very low-grade oil that doesn’t give you the taste or the health benefits that extra virgin should give you,” Mueller says. In fact, a study from the University of California, Davis, found that 69 percent of imports tested failed to meet a U.S. Department of Agriculture quality standard.

And Mueller says in some cases the oil is just too old. By the time imported olive oil reaches us, it has often been shipped from place to place and sometimes not stored well. Even if it’s not noticeably rancid, many of the heart-healthy compounds have degraded and fizzled. “Extra-virgin olive oil is fresh-squeezed juice—it’s a fruit juice—therefore freshness is a critical question,” he says. Mueller says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used to police olive oil imports to ensure producers were meeting quality and freshness standards. But those efforts have fallen off.

So, where does that leave those of us who want to get our hands on the healthy stuff? Well, for starters, Mueller says look for brands that carry a harvest date on the bottle….

Oils with the highest levels of heart-healthy compounds tend to be pungent and peppery. Mueller says if the oil stings the back of your throat a little, that tells you the beneficial polyphenols really are there. “Once you have that taste, you get used to the bitterness and pungency, you never go back,” says Mueller. “It’s a completely different experience.” And a healthy one, too.

Mediterranean Diet for Diabetes

Posted on July 22, 2019July 22, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following article by health and medicine writer Nicholas Bakalar is reprinted from the New York Times, January 13, 2014

More good news on the Mediterranean diet. Sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet may help reduce the risk for Type 2 diabetes, even when people don’t lose weight or increase exercise levels.

The Mediterranean diet is rich in olive oil, nuts, fish, beans, fruits and vegetables, with few dairy products and moderate alcohol consumption.

The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, randomly assigned 3,541 men and women, ages 55 to 80 and free of diabetes, to one of three diets: a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either two ounces of extra-virgin olive oil, one supplemented with an ounce of mixed nuts a day, and a control group advised to eat a low-fat diet. They followed the participants for an average of about four years, with no intervention to increase physical activity or limit calories.

Compared with the control group, and after adjusting for health and socioeconomic factors, the risk for diabetes was 40 percent lower with the Mediterranean diet supplemented with olive oil and 18 percent lower with the diet supplemented with nuts.

“The strength of our study is that it has a large number of participants with a long followup and a randomized design,” said an author, Dr. Ramón Estruch, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Barcelona. “The diet works by itself without considering physical activity or changes in weight, which were insignificant between groups.”

The study in Annals of Internal Medicine referenced in the article above can be found here.

Mediterranean Diet Reduces Diabetes, Inflammation

Posted on July 22, 2019July 22, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following article by Mark L. Fuerst is reprinted from Psychiatric Times, March 31, 2014.

Two new studies show the heart-healthy benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet.

One study linked the diet to a lower risk of diabetes mellitus (DM), especially among those at high risk for cardiovascular disease…

In the first pooled analysis of studies evaluating the possible role of the Mediterranean diet in DM development, adherence to this diet was associated with a 21% reduced risk of DM compared with the control dietary groups. The likelihood of developing DM was almost 27% less in those at high risk for cardiovascular disease than in controls.

“Adherence to the Mediterranean diet may prevent the development of diabetes irrespective of age, sex, race, or culture,” said lead investigator Demosthenes Panagiotakos, PhD, professor at Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. “This diet has a beneficial effect, even in high risk groups, and speaks to the fact that it is never too late to start eating a healthy diet…”

The Mediterranean diet frequently emphasizes fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, fi sh, olive oil, and even a glass of red wine.

Dr. Panagiotakos said he believes the Mediterranean diet lowers the risk of DM by helping guard against obesity. Earlier research has shown that following the traditional Mediterranean diet also is linked to weight loss, a reduced risk of heart disease and related death, and lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels…

[In a second study], Italian researchers conducted an analysis of the eating habits of nearly 15,000 healthy Italian men and women aged 35 years or older…

The investigators observed that consumption of the Mediterranean diet was directly related to lower levels of platelets and white blood cells, which, in turn, correlated to lower levels of inflammation [which has been associated with a greater risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke].

For more detailed information on these studies, please see the following: Mediterranean diet and diabetes mellitus:

Why Olive Oil Is So Good for the Heart

Posted on July 22, 2019July 22, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following article by Alice. G Walton is reprinted from Forbes, May 20, 2014.

New research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences looks at the effect of the Mediterranean diet on heart health—and the verdict is favorable. But even more than that, the study lays out exactly why olive oil and greens are together so beneficial for the heart.

Until now, researchers hadn’t quite been able to explain why a diet as high in fat as the Mediterranean diet is linked to cardiovascular health. Researchers have wondered what exactly it is about the fats that helps the heart, and now they’ve arrived a pretty convincing mechanism to explain it.

The trick is to create a “fusion” of the healthy fats in, say, olive oil and the nitrites and nitrates in greens like spinach, celery, and carrots, which make up a large part of the Mediterranean diet. This fats–greens pairing, according to the researchers, creates a compound—nitro fatty acid—that has the effect of relaxing blood vessels and bringing down blood pressure, which are key components of heart health.

To test the theory, the team fed mice—with high blood pressure—the omega-6 fatty acids found in olive oil. They also added to their diets sodium nitrite, in order to mimic the pairing of olive oil and veggies. Indeed, not only was the level of nitro fatty acids higher in these mice, but their blood pressure was lower at the end of the 5-day intervention. And when the researchers used a strain of mice that were resistant to the effects of the nitro fatty acids, their blood pressure did not change.

Though the research was done in mice, the mechanism likely applies to people, too. Earlier research has pointed to the benefits of olive oil and nuts on cardiovascular health in humans.

“The findings of our study,” said study author Philip Eaton, “help to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attacks.” Avocados may work too, the team told the BBC, since they also contain healthy unsaturated fats.