Health Benefits Archives - Page 9 of 10

“Omics” Data Reveal Impact of Olive Oil on Human Gene Expression

Posted on July 18, 2019July 18, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

Olive oil exerts direct effects on molecules in the body that alter human gene expression and metabolic function.

Reprinted from an article by Jedha Dening in Olive Oil Times, October 13, 2016

Olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, is the main source of fat in the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), one of the world’s healthiest dietary patterns. Consumption of olive oil and following a MedDiet have been studied extensively in hundreds of studies and shown to provide benefits for many chronic health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders and the metabolic syndrome.

While these health benefits are well established, science has not had the tools to identify the mechanisms behind such positive responses. Now, a breakthrough in modern medicine and nutrition called “omics” technologies— transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, interactomics, and fluxomics—provides a way to characterize the molecular markers and mechanisms behind the health benefits of nutraceuticals such as olive oil and the MedDiet pattern.

A recent review published in Biofactors reveals that the early evidence coming out of omics technologies confirms that olive oil and the MedDiet do in fact exert effects on molecules in the body that alter human gene expression and metabolic function.

Some of the specific effects of olive oil bisphenols on disease mechanisms include: “effects on receptors, signaling kinases and transcription factors associated with cellular stress and inflammation, lipoprotein metabolism and damage, and endothelial function and more in general with pathways responsible for cell cycle regulation and metabolism that include mitochondrial function and signaling, ER stress, DNA damage, and the response to growth factors, cytokines and hormones.”

Omics data also show that olive oil phenols have a balancing function (homeostatic) on the gastrointestinal tract—stomach, liver, and pancreas—as well as influencing inflammatory and vascular cells at the cellular, systemic level of the body. The data confirm the powerful role olive oil plays in human gene expression, as an anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating agent and in influencing antioxidant and detoxification genes in the body.

This really is a breakthrough in nutritional science and medicine, because now, what can be understood by these new omics technologies is the bioactive targets that specific components of olive oil have on the body.

For instance, before this new science, research has clearly shown olive oil has health benefits for cardiovascular disease, but no known mechanisms. With this new science, it can now be seen that olive oil influences genes such as MCP, IL7R, IFNc, TNFa, and the ß-adrenergic receptor ß2. MCP1, for example, “is a crucial chemokine responsible for the recruitment of monocytes to inflammatory lesions in the vasculature.”

This provides powerful information to scientists about how foods influence diseases, both in their development, progression and healing. This new science also provides another level of experimental validation and promise for revealing ways certain nutritional foods such as olive oil may be used in clinical applications for even greater benefits.

The world of omics technologies is still in its infancy, therefore there is still much to be discovered. However, the authors suggest that in the near future, omics technology will make it possible to predict and assess gene response in relation to nutraceuticals such as olive oil, which could lead the way to the provision of personalized nutrition and medicine that could reverse disease.

Extra virgin olive oil may reduce Alzheimer’s risk, study reports

Posted on July 18, 2019September 22, 2021 by The Olive Oil Hunter

Reprinted from an article by Joseph Scalise in Science Recorder, June 22, 2017

Researchers from Temple University have found that extra virgin olive oil may help protect against memory loss and reduce many of the conditions associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study published in the journal Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology reports.

The team made this discovery by looking at how olive oil–enriched diets affected the memory and learning abilities of mice. To do this, they split the rodents into two groups: one that ate olive oil and one that did not. While all of the mice looked the same after months on their respective diets, the rodents on the olive oil diet had better working and spatial memory than those that ate normal food.

Olive oil is the cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet and has been linked to numerous health benefits. This study builds on previous research by showing more of its advantages. Not only did the oil reduce brain inflammation, it also activated the autophagy process, which removes debris and toxins—including ones associated with Alzheimer’s—from the brain.

“The thinking is that extra-virgin olive oil is better than fruits and vegetables alone, and, as a monounsaturated vegetable fat, it is healthier than saturated animal fats,” said study co-author Domenico Praticò, a researcher at Temple University, in a statement.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia in the United States. There is currently no cure. Estimates from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention state that 5 million Americans contracted the illness in 2013, and that number is expected to rise to 14 million by 2050.

Researchers hope findings such as this can spur new studies and lead to a better understanding of how diet affects neurological disorders. They plan to follow up on their study by introducing extra virgin olive oil later on in the aging process to see what other benefits it might have.

“Thanks to the autophagy activation, memory, and synaptic integrity were preserved, and the pathological effects in animals otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer’s disease were significantly reduced,” Praticò said, according to USA Today. “We want to know whether olive oil added at a later time point in the diet can stop or reverse the disease.”

Health Benefits of Olives and Olive Oil: Oleuropein Helps the Body Secrete More Insulin

Posted on July 17, 2019July 17, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

The following is excerpted from an article in ScienceDaily, September 12, 2017.

The health benefits of olives—and associated natural products such as olive oil—have long been recognized and touted by proponents of the Mediterranean diet.

However, little was previously known about what specific compounds and biochemical interactions in the fruit contribute to its medical and nutritional benefits such as weight loss and prevention of type 2 diabetes.

A Virginia Tech research team discovered that the olive-derived compound oleuropein helps the body secrete more insulin, a central signaling molecule in the body that controls metabolism. The same compound also detoxifies another signaling molecule called amylin that over-produces and forms harmful aggregates in type 2 diabetes. In these two distinct ways, oleuropein helps prevent the onset of disease.

The findings were recently published in the journal Biochemistry as a Rapid Report, which is reserved for timely topics of unusual interest, according to the journal.

“Our work provides new mechanistic insights into the long-standing question of why olive products can be anti-diabetic,” said Bin Xu, lead author, assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and a Fralin Life Science Institute affiliate. “We believe it will not only contribute to the biochemistry of the functions of the olive component oleuropein, but also have an impact on the general public to pay more attention to olive products in light of the current diabetes epidemic.”

The discovery could help improve understanding of the scientific basis of health benefits of olive products and develop new, low-cost nutraceutical strategies to fight type 2 diabetes and related obesity.

Next steps include testing the compound in a diabetic animal model and investigation of additional new functions of this compound, or its components, in metabolism and aging.

Reference: Ling Wu, Paul Velander, Dongmin Liu, Bin Xu. Olive component oleuropein promotes β-cell insulin secretion and protects β-cells from amylin amyloid induced cytotoxicity. Biochemistry 2017; DOI:10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00199.

A More Complete Mediterranean Diet May Protect Against Aggressive Prostate Cancer

Posted on July 8, 2019August 15, 2019 by The Olive Oil Hunter

Adapted from an article in Science Daily, January 10, 2018

In a new study published in the Journal of Urology, researchers determined that men who followed a Mediterranean diet—rich in fish, boiled potatoes, whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low consumption of juices—had lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer (PC) than those who followed other dietary patterns, like Prudent or Western diets.

Although PC is the most common type of cancer in men and can have a high mortality rate, evidence linking PC to specific environmental, occupational, or dietary exposures has been limited. Recent studies have investigated whether certain dietary patterns impact cancer risks, but the results have been inconsistent.

The study’s authors explored the relationship between the risk of having PC and dietary patterns as part of the MCC-Spain study, a Spanish case-control study that involved 733 patients with histologically confirmed PC and 1,229 healthy men with a mean age of 66 years from seven Spanish regions.

Adherence to the three dietary patterns of Western, Prudent, and Mediterranean, which characterize the dietary habits of the Spanish population, was evaluated.

The Western pattern includes consumption of large amounts of fatty dairy products, refined grains, processed meat, caloric beverages, sweets, fast food, and sauces.
The Prudent pattern involves consumption of low-fat dairy products, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and juices.
The Mediterranean pattern consists of high consumption of fish, boiled potatoes, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low consumption of juices.

The diets were graded according to the degree of adherence to each pattern and assigned to four quartiles from lower to higher adherence within each pattern.

Only a high adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern appeared to be associated with a lower risk of aggressive PC. Prudent and Mediterranean dietary patterns showed different effects in low- and high-grade tumors.

Results indicated that for more aggressive and more extensive tumors, only high adherence to the Mediterranean diet showed a statistically significant protective effect. All other dietary patterns and tumor characteristics showed little or no correlation and did not achieve statistical significance.

Co-author Adela Castelló, PhD, Cancer and Environmental Epidemiology Unit, National Center for Epidemiology, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Madrid), commented, “If other researchers confirm these results, the promotion of the Mediterranean dietary pattern might be an efficient way of reducing the risk of developing advanced PC, in addition to lowering the risk of other prevalent health problems in men such as cardiovascular disease. Dietary recommendations should take into account whole patterns instead of focusing on individual foods.”

Reference: Adela Castelló, Elena Boldo, Pilar Amiano, Gemma Castaño-Vinyals, Nuria Aragonés, Inés Gómez- Acebo, Rosana Peiró, Jose Juan Jimenez-Moleón, Juan Alguacil, Adonina Tardón, Lluís Cecchini, Virginia Lope, Trinidad Dierssen-Sotos, Lourdes Mengual, Manolis Kogevinas, Marina Pollán, Beatriz Pérez-Gómez. Mediterranean Dietary Pattern Is Associated with Low Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer: MCC-Spain Study.
J Urol 2018;199(2):430. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2017.08.087